


Forsaken Hope

by Sigmatic



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Dangan Ronpa & Super Dangan Ronpa 2 Spoilers, Dangan Ronpa Spoilers, Fan Dangan Ronpa, Fangan Ronpa, Gen, Murder Mystery, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-30
Updated: 2015-01-21
Packaged: 2018-02-23 04:37:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 62,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2534456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sigmatic/pseuds/Sigmatic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Keiichi Satou received a letter from the prestigious Hope's Peak Academy inviting him to attend as the Super High School Level Bad Luck, he was anything but excited. His hopes of escaping his reputation for having abnormally bad luck crushed, he reluctantly accepted. But true to his title, he falls unconscious at Hope's Peak and instead finds himself trapped on a seemingly deserted island with fifteen other Hope's Peak students. Despite this, all seems normal until a bizarre black and white bear appears and explains that they are being held captive and must live the rest of their lives together on this island. There is only one way to escape the island: destroy the order by murdering a fellow classmate and getting away with it. With the threat of death looming over them, Keiichi must solve the mysteries surrounding their abduction, all while trying to keep himself and the rest of his classmates alive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: The Isle of Despair - Part I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story is told from the first-person perspective of Keiichi Satou, the main protagonist. The story is set in an alternate universe to that of the original canon story, but still retains many of the same elements of the original story, such as the fact that the events of the first game remain mostly unchanged. Only assume anything explicitly stated in the story to be relevant. The spoiler warnings are there just in case. NOTE: The setting is NOT the same as SDR2, and most of the events of SDR2 did not occur in this universe.

I stood completely still outside the building, in awe of the sheer scale of the academy in front of me, which seemed to stretch forever upwards into the sky. I couldn't help but feel like a tiny ant compared to the enormous structure that stood proudly in front of me. 

That structure was **Hope's Peak Academy**. On a day like this, when the sun sat high in the sky, its bright rays unobstructed by clouds or the urban skyline, the academy radiated an intense aura of importance. Of course, the academy had that aura on any day, regardless of the weather conditions. A true beacon of **hope** , the academy is situated in the center of the city, circumscribed by the large park that marks the city's central point. Separated from the rest of the skyscrapers and office buildings; Hope's Peak stands tall as a beacon for all who pass through the center of the city. 

Aside from being a physical enormity, the academy's main importance lies in the students who attend it. Hope's Peak Academy is home to the best and the brightest high school students in the world. The academy selectively scouts and invites the most promising students; those who are experts in their field and possess unique **talents**. Because of their outstanding abilities, these students are aptly titled the **Super High School Level** students. Each one unique in their talent or ability, they are invited to Hope's Peak with the intention of grooming them into the hope of tomorrow. Truly, the **hope** of the future is nurtured in the very halls and classrooms in the building that now stood in front of me. Standing just within the gates of a place like that, how could I not feel a bit overwhelmed?

I gazed at the building for a few long moments. **Hope's Peak Academy**. The realization had only just hit me a few moments ago. I was about to begin my time at the greatest academy in the world, in which it is said that " **graduation all but guarantees success in life**." I still can't believe that someone like me could make it into an academy as important as Hope's Peak. Well, I really should introduce myself before I go too far off topic. 

My name is **Keiichi Satou**. I'm what most everyone would consider an ordinary high school student. I have generally above average grades, I play games and sports in my spare time, and I have a part-time job. There are probably a million high school students just like me in the world. 

There is only one thing that sets me apart from the rest in the eyes of the Hope's Peak staff; I have unnaturally **bad luck**. Ever since I was little, I've been plagued with unnatural occurrences and bad luck. I've broken so many bones and gotten so many scrapes and bruises, it would probably be impossible to find something that I haven't injured. At every opportunity, I'll get caught in an accident, mixed up in a robbery, hit with flying objects; you name it. Just today, my apartment's power went out due to a power surge, and I accidentally smacked into five people on my way here. 

My invitation letter explained the staff's decision of choosing me as the **Super High School Bad Luck** :

_"Dear Mr. Keiichi Satou,  
_

_You have been invited to attend Hope's Peak Academy as part of our **79th** Class as the **Super High School Level Bad Luck**. Originally, your name was selected by random lottery to be invited to attend Hope's Peak as the **Super High School Level Good Luck**. However, shortly after your name was chosen, some unexpected circumstances arose, and a new student was chosen by lottery. The headmaster, after conducting some follow-up research on you, decided that you may possess another specific talent that Hope's Peak Academy is very interested in studying; **bad luck** ; the opposing talent to good luck. And that is the reasoning behind your invitation to Hope's Peak Academy. We hope you will join us this year as the **Super High School Level Bad Luck**.  
_

_Sincerely,  
_

_Hope's Peak Academy Staff"_

Truly, this was the absolute worst outcome that I could have anticipated. Well, maybe not the _worst_ , but it was still extremely undesirable for me. Throughout all of my time in school, I've been known for nothing but my bad luck. I had hoped that high school might change that; that I might be able to overturn my reputation of bad luck and live a normal life. Ironically, it now became my only redeeming quality and the only reason I got invited to an academy like Hope's Peak. There is much more to attribute to my bad luck, but I'll save that for another time.

Returning to reality, I shifted my gaze and glanced around the surrounding area. Surprisingly, there were no other students to be found. I started to feel a bit nervous. I had left extra early today, to ensure that, no matter what, I wouldn't be late. But, I began to worry that perhaps I had left too early, and that no other students would be around for a while. Or perhaps I hadn't left early enough, and the rest of the students had already gathered inside. I decided to find out the only way I could. The academy still stood intimidatingly in front of me as I made my way through the front entrance.

Once I reached the entrance hall, I breathed a sigh of relief. I saw no signs of any other students, or anyone else, for that matter. I realized then that meant I had arrived much too early. I would probably have to wait around and kill some time before anyone else showed up. I glanced over at the analog clock on the wall. _Let's see, it's... huh?_ I blinked. The image did not clear up. My vision was going all blurry. I rubbed my eyes and then squinted. That's when I felt like I was hit by a truck. Everything suddenly became sore and I felt nauseous. My vision continued to deteriorate, melting into a swirl of colors and shapes. I couldn't think straight, my mind was racing in circles, and my balance failed. I put out a hand to support myself, but it was so weak it couldn't hold my weight and I collapsed to the floor. I closed my eyes and was enveloped in darkness.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"......you......ake"

A voice called out to me from the darkness. The voice was calm and soothing, although I couldn't quite make out what it was saying. My senses were quickly returning to me as I strained to hear the voice. My eyes burned from the sudden influx of light, but I forced them open as far as I could; afraid that if I closed them I'd fall back into the darkness forever.

"How...re...ou...feel..."

The voice called out again. I tried as hard as I could to clear my mind and focus intently on the voice. My vision was almost clear again, and in the blur I could make out the face of a girl looking down intently at me.

"I'm glad to see you're okay," a light, calm voice spoke.

My head clear, I could finally understand the voice. My vision had cleared up as well, and I could now fully see the girl looking down at me with a face of relief. I realized that I was laying down staring upwards at the ceiling. After blinking a few times, I sat up and tried to get my bearings.

The girl let out a breath that she was holding in. "I wasn't sure if you'd ever wake up, but I'm relieved that you did," she said. Her words were spoken clearly and formally, but they held in them a hint of comfort that eased my sense of panic.

"...Thanks, I... guess..." I replied weakly.

My head was still groggy and my body ached, but nothing felt seriously wrong with me. 

"Um... where exactly... am I?" I asked.

The question was not without merit. My surroundings were completely unfamiliar to me. I had been laying down across a couple of chairs situated against a wall. The room I found myself in was fairly large, with elegant light fixtures on the walls and ceilings. The dark red wallpaper had an intricate and sophisticated design, and its color gave the room a darker, more cozy feel. Several columns protruded up from the ground in a neat arrangement in the middle of the room. At the far end of the room sat a rather imposing dark wood reception desk of sorts. Affixed to the front of the desk, a gold trimmed plate was engraved with the words, " **Hotel Valetta** ".

"Well, we seem to be in some sort of hotel," the girl responded.

_Hotel?_ I tried to think back to before I woke up here, but I could only remember entering Hope's Peak and then passing out. _Wait... that's right... **Hope's Peak**._ I had just entered the academy when I suddenly passed out. _But then, what am I doing in some hotel?_

"What happened? I was at Hope's Peak Academy, and then I-"

" **Suddenly passed out**?" the girl suddenly interrupted.

"Y-yeah, exactly like that. How did you know that?" I asked, perplexed.

The girl responded, " **The same thing happened to the rest of us, too**."

"The... rest of you?" I looked past her into the depths of the large lobby, but my eyes failed to spot anyone else. With the exception of the girl in front of me and myself, the room was completely empty. My gaze returned to the girl just in time for her to give me a surprised expression.

"Ah, that's right. You haven't met everyone else yet, have you?" she asked.

I was still confused. "There's nobody here though. Who are you talking about?"

Her eyes grew wide for a moment before she shook her head. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I forgot that you were still unconscious. The rest of the students already left to go gather information about our situation."

Nothing about what she was saying made any sense. _Rest of the students? Does she mean the members of my class at Hope's Peak? If so, what are we doing at some hotel? And what does she mean by "our situation"? What in the world is going on?_

Sensing my confusion and discomfort, the girl offered a hand to me. "Here. I think once you can get your bearings then you'll be able to understand better."

Hesitating for a moment, I took her hand in mine and pulled myself off of the chair I was laying on. Once my legs touched the floor, my knees instinctively buckled and I almost collapsed to the floor. The girl's arm supporting me was the only thing that kept me off the ground.

The girl was rightfully concerned. "Are you alright? Maybe you shouldn't be walking around just yet..."

The girl's words weren't too far from the truth, it seemed. My legs could barely support me, even with the help of the girl's arm underneath mine pulling me up. My head was spinning and brief waves of pain and unease plagued my entire body. Despite all of that, my mind was racing, and the situation I found myself in was too strange for me to be laying around.

I mustered up all of the strength I could and stood up straight. I gave the girl a reassuring look as she put her arm down. "I'm alright, I think. Don't worry about me."

She smiled back at me and let out another breath. My body was beginning to feel a bit better, and I could at least stand on my own. I shook my head to clear it and took another look around. I really was in some hotel somewhere with a girl I had never met before. Part of me was hoping that this was all one of those crazy dreams you have where nothing makes sense, and that I'd soon wake up in a cold sweat. _I guess that the truth really is stranger than fiction sometimes,_ I thought.

I finished looking around and returned my gaze to the girl in front of me. She had her hands together in front of her with a concerned and expectant look on her face. She was wearing a seemingly normal school uniform; a white blouse with a dark-blue collar, with a light blue ribbon tied in the front. Her skirt was the same shade of dark-blue, but she was wearing black socks up past her ankles and simple brown shoes. On both sides of her face, her silver hair was tied together with a purple bow while the back of her hair fell neatly just below her shoulders. Her light brown eyes stared into mine with concern.

She took a step towards me and waved her hand in front of my face. "Hey, are you sure you're alright?"

I blinked and snapped out of my confusion. "Y-yeah, yeah, I'm fine" I replied instinctively.

She stepped back a bit and smiled. She let her shoulders down and seemed to relax. "That's a relief." She let out a sigh and shook her head. "Before we do anything else, we should introduce ourselves. It will be difficult to communicate if we don't at least know each others names." She paused before continuing. "My name is **Mizuki Natsumi**. It is a pleasure to meet you." She bowed slightly upon finishing.

Humbled slightly by her show of formality, I cleared my throat an gave my own introduction in response. "I'm Keiichi Satou. It's nice to meet you too." I bowed slightly in return, careful not to throw off my very precarious balance.

Mizuki waited a few seconds expectantly before asking, "You mentioned Hope's Peak before. Do you also happen to be a new student there?"

"Yeah, I am. You mean you are as well?" _My intuition from earlier seems to be holding together so far,_ I thought.

Mizuki nodded in response. "Indeed I am. I am the **Super High School Level Student Council President**."

I was surprised. _She was a Student Council President? No, not just any Student Council President. The **Super High School Level Student Council President**_. Despite that, she seemed to lack all of the stereotypical qualities of a Student Council President. She didn't seem evil, she wasn't bossy, and she seemed compassionate and understanding, not to mention she seemed to have the patience of a saint. Then again, I had never gotten to know my old school's Student Council President, so whatever I thought was typical for a Student Council President was from what I had seen in cartoons and anime; not the most reliable source of realistic information. However, I noticed that she did have a red armband on her left arm with the word ' **President** ' displayed prominently in black text.

I stood staring at her for a long moment before she once again waved her hand at me. "What about you? What is your Super High School Level talent?"

"O-oh, I'm the Super High School Level... uh... Bad Luck..." I hadn't realized it until I had said it out loud, but my 'talent' really did sound stupid. How could anyone even consider something like Bad Luck as a talent worthy of getting into an academy like Hope's Peak? All that I knew was that having that title attached to my name was extremely humiliating . I was readying myself for the laughter that would surely ensue after I had finished, but to my surprise, Mizuki only nodded in response, still keeping a concerned look on her face.

There was only a short pause before the conversation continued. "Maybe that explains why you're in such a terrible state compared to everyone else." She looked down for a moment. "However, I am even more surprised that in addition to choosing the luckiest student, Hope's Peak also seems to have chosen the unluckiest student." She looked up at me with a curious expression. "What was their reason for choosing you? Is your luck truly that bad?"

I looked away. This was a conversation I didn't ever want to have. I never wanted my bad luck to be exposed to my classmates at all, and here it was as the center of attention. I tried my hardest to sound as apathetic and disinterested as possible. "It's a long story..." _A story I really don't want to tell_.

Mizuki seemed to understand. "Ah, I see..." She patted down her skirt nervously. 

Strangely enough, Mizuki really didn't seem like the stereotypical leader-type. After a few moments, my curiousity got the better of me, and I decided to voice my thoughts. "So, what about you? You're the Super High School Level Student Council President, right? What's the story behind that?"

She seemed to tense up upon hearing my question. "It is just how it appears. I am the Super High School Level Student Council President. There really is nothing more to talk about." Her voice was strained. She quickly rebounded, however. "Besides, you didn't even tell the story behind your talent, so why should I tell you mine?" she asked, turning her cheek. "Anyway, my story doesn't matter right now. We should go meet the others and assess our situation." She grabbed my arm and started pulling me out of the hotel.

"H-hey, what are you doing? I'm fine by myself" I proclaimed.

She let go of my arm and looked back at me. She didn't seem too convinced. "I'm going with you. You still don't look so good and I'm worried you might collapse again."

"W-well, I..." I was ready to fight back her argument, but I realized that she was right and that I needed her help. She was the only thing in this whole place that made any sense and I was still feeling pretty weak. I didn't want to go out and face the rest of my classmates alone like this. I sighed and conceded defeat. "Alright, let's get going then."

She seemed to be relieved and stood next to the exit expectantly. I hesitated for a moment before heading through the door, with Mizuki following right behind.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The sun was shining brightly down onto us as we stepped out of the hotel and into the fresh, clean air. The scenery outside of the hotel was beautiful, with neatly trimmed bright-green bushes accenting the edges of the stone walkways, which in themselves were smooth and bordered with elegant designs etched into the stone. The front area of the hotel itself was covered in various types of flowers, whose array of colors created a scene like one would see in a brochure for an expensive, high-class hotel. A few large trees were scattered about, providing safe havens of shade beneath their networks of branches and leaves. The one thing absent from the immaculate scenery of the hotel was any sign of other people.

I stood there in awe for a few long moments, simply watching the flowers sway back and forth in the calm breeze. The sun sat high in the sky, not quite directly above the hotel. The view of the sky was unobstructed, and the fluffy clouds moved along at a snail's pace, leaving streaks of white across the blue canvass of the sky.

Mizuki took hold of my arm once again and ripped me back into reality. After pulling me along for a few feet, her grip loosened and we walked alongside each other, following the stone path that lead out of the hotel grounds. At the end of the path sat a large arched opening in the tall fence that surrounded the complex. It seemed that the hotel was simply the centerpiece of the plot, with several smaller courtyards and shallow water pools circumscribing it.

Upon exiting the hotel area, Mizuki immediately pointed directly across the way, to a large one-story building, which looked like some sort of restaurant or eating establishment. "That's where the rest of the group said they were going to look first. If we check there, we're sure to find someone," she said reassuringly. I nodded and continued on towards the building, with Mizuki trailing not far behind.

Upon closer examination, the building was not a restaurant, but a cafe; the signs covered in coffee cups indicated as much. The sign attached to the glass entryway prominently displayed the name of the cafe in bold, capitalized green text: Café Étranger. Not that I knew exactly what "Étranger" even meant. 

Making our way past the entrance and into the cafe, we emerged in the middle of the seating area, with slick black tables spread out in an organized manner. Surrounding the circular tables were dark brown-wood chairs with thin cushions, which contrasted with the light wood flooring and white fluorescent lights that hung from the ceiling. Past the seating area was a large wooden counter, with several machines sitting on shelves behind it, which I could only assume were used for making different types of coffee. The only other notable feature was a door situated in between two of the machines, which presumably led to some sort of back room. The entire venue was brightly lit, both from the natural sunlight entering the many glass windows and the artificial light provided by all of the ceiling lights.

The cafe itself wasn't too out of the ordinary, so my attention shifted to the two inhabitants; a girl in a lab coat looking past the door on the other side of the counter and a guy casually laid back against the wall closest to the entrance with his eyes closed. I decided to try my luck with the guy first, simply because he was closer.

After approaching him, I decided to try an assertive approach. "Hey there!" I said. The guy opened his eyes for a brief moment, looking back at me through some stray strands of his brown hair. He closed them again and sighed, no longer leaning against the wall. He was about as tall as me, and was also fairly thin. His appearance was nothing too out of place either; an open blue school coat with black trim lazily worn over an open-collared white dress shirt. In addition, he had matching blue slacks on with simple black shoes. His brown hair cascaded down from his scalp and fell neatly off to the sides of his face, with the rest of the hair pointing outward or falling down onto the sides of his head. His matching brown eyes were slightly obstructed by a few locks of hair, and a tuft of hair fell between his eyes, sitting just above his nose.

"I'm **Kazuki Shirokane**. **Super High School Level Logician** ," he said with little emotion. "You must be the guy who was still unconscious."

"Yeah. My name is Keiichi Satou. Super High School Level Bad... Luck." It still wasn't getting any easier to say my talent out loud. 

Kazuki let out a short breath. "Hmph. Bad Luck, huh?" Before even finishing his sentence, he started for the door. I reached my hand out to try and grab his shoulder and called out to him.

"Hey, wait a second! What does your title even mean, anyway?" I asked.

Kazuki stopped for a moment, but didn't turn around. He looked over his shoulder and replied, "Come on, you can figure that one out yourself, can't you?" After saying that in return, he swiftly left the cafe and disappeared out of sight. I sighed.

"I'm not sure what's up with him. He seemed to blow everyone else off in much the same way," Mizuki said.

_What is his deal?_ He just threw his name and title out there and left. I guess he just isn't the type of person who likes to indulge in idle conversation, but the least he could do was explain his talent. _What is a logician supposed to be anyway?_ I looked over at Mizuki, who seemed to have that concerned look plastered onto her face again.

"I've read that he's a master at chess, and won countless tournaments when he was younger. Apparently he beat chess players with ten times the amount of experience as him." It was almost as if she could read my mind.

"A chess player, huh? But why not just say that? What's with this whole logician thing?" I replied.

Mizuki thought for a moment before responding. "From what I've read, his talents don't just fall into playing chess. In fact, he hasn't played in any chess tournaments since he was young. The only other information I could find on him was about some solved cold cases. It sounds to me like the Logician title is just a fancy way of saying he's a master analyst and extremely good at logical deduction."

"So, his talent is logic?" I replied. Mizuki just nodded. Still, even with that bit of information, I wondered just what the heck was up with Kazuki. 

Mizuki motioned over to the girl in the lab coat behind the counter. She seemed focused on looking through whatever was on the other side of that door.

Mizuki spoke first this time. "Hey, Hanako, do you mind introducing yourself again?"

The girl turned around and stepped over to the counter. "Ah, you must be the guy who was still asleep on the chairs." She pushed her glasses back up to the bridge of her nose. "I'm **Hanako Konishi**. Nice to meet you, uh..." she trailed off, waiting for a response.

"Oh, Keiichi Satou. I'm Keiichi Satou. Nice to meet you too, Hanako," I responded. Hanako nodded in response. She had a very sophisticated aura about her, with her long white lab coat stretching almost to the floor. The lab coat itself covered a brown-hued school uniform, with a bright red ribbon tied in the front. Her brown plaid skirt covered the tops of her long black stockings, which covered her legs completely. Her long black hair was clipped together with small hair clips off to the left side of her face, which kept her bangs from falling down in front of her bright violet eyes. Her thin-rimmed glasses were minimalistic, but still gave her an air of intelligence. Despite all this, her reassuring smile was warm and comfortable, and being around her was calming.

Sensing my gaze on her, Hanako twirled a bit, letting her lab coat sway slightly outwards. "Do you like the lab coat? All **Forensic Scientists** usually wear one."

I was momentarily stunned. "You're the **Super High School Level Forensic Scientist**? But you're still in high school, right?" I asked.

Hanako smiled. "What do you mean? Just because I'm still in high school doesn't mean I can't do any forensic investigations. Here, I'll show you." She pulled open the flap on the small shoulder bag she was carrying. "In here I've got everything I need for an investigation: Sprays, powders, swabs, brushes, lights, scanners, bags, containers; you name it, I've got it." She pointed to each of them in turn while she talked. 

While I was still looking into the depths of the bag with interest, Mizuki chimed in. "Hanako is extremely well known in the criminal justice field. Not only did she use existing forensic investigation methods in unheard of ways to solve many unsolvable cases, she also developed several new forensic science investigation tools, as well as encourage the development of several entirely new fields relating to scientific investigation." Mizuki added, "It's truly amazing to have someone like you in our class, Hanako."

Hanako blushed and looked away. "T-thanks, I guess. I'm not really anything that special though. I'm just an ordinary high schooler with a knack for forensics. There's really nothing to get so worked up over," she replied.

She took a deep breath and pointed over towards the open door in which she was examining before. "Anyways, it looks like this is not just your ordinary everyday cafe."

"What do you mean?" I asked, puzzled. The entire place seemed to emanate normality.

"First of all, the absence of any employees or patrons is strange in and of itself," Hanako stated. I glanced around again and, sure enough, the only inhabitants of this large cafe were Mizuki, Hanako, and myself. Why is there nobody here? I thought silently to myself. 

Hanako continued, "The room back there seems to be some kind of kitchen with a huge storeroom attached. There seems to be an endless supply of every kind of food item you could imagine. There is even a freezer with plenty of meats stored in it. And all of it seems to be properly packaged and in relatively good condition. Not to mention that the kitchen itself is chock full of state-of-the-art utensils and appliances." Hanako's face was beaming. "If I had to guess, I'd say we could make any kind of dish imaginable with the kind of supplies we have in here."

I was amazed. This cafe seemed to be way over the top. _Why is there so much stuff shoved into this one cafe?_ It also brought the main question back to the surface. "Hey, Hanako, do you have any idea where we are right now? I've never even heard of "Café Étranger" or "Hotel Valetta" before."

Hanako's face contracted in thought, and it was only a moment before she responded. "I have no idea. I've never heard of this place either. It seems that we're on some sort of island, however. Besides that, the location of this place is a mystery."

I nodded in agreement. I had noticed the huge body of water off past the side of the road over a steep cliff, but the cliff itself was barricaded by a wooden fence. The rocks at the bottom of the cliff also would have made it impossible to scale down the cliff to get a closer look.

Hanako took another breath and then stood up straight. "Alright, I'm going to dive back into the storeroom and see what else I can find. You guys should get going on exploring the rest of this place." Mizuki and I both nodded in agreement. We left the cafe behind, hearing muffled screeches of excitement from the storeroom from the back as we left.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The prologue is going to be a bit long and wordy, simply to properly introduce the characters and their surroundings.


	2. Prologue: The Isle of Despair - Part II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The rest of the prologue is close to completion already, so I'll be posting the other chapters soon as well.

The stone pathway turned abruptly from the front of the cafe and headed further down the island, running parallel to a huge building that was several stories tall. From the brick exterior and imposing demeanor, I assumed it to be some sort of academic or government building. Upon reaching the courtyard, I passed by the central fountain, which had an intricately detailed statue of a bearded man spearing a fish with his mighty trident. The fountain itself was running smoothly, with water flowing out of the fish's mouth and into the network of pools below. Strangely, the fountain was completely clean, not a single piece of trash or coin polluted the clear pond water.

With encouragement in the form of pulling by Mizuki, we made our way to the entrance of the huge building. The large bronze sign fixed to the top of the entrance read in bold face " **LIBRARY** ". Making our way through the enormous wooden doors, the sign's proclamation held true. This immense building was definitely a library, with shelves upon shelves lined full of books. The building had two floors, with the second floor forming a "U" shape with the center open above the first floor. The center of the first floor had large tables and an abundance of chairs, presumably a space for people to sit down and read the library's vast collection of literature.

The large desk near the entrance was imposing, but lacked its most important feature; a librarian attending it. In fact, besides the one guy laying back in one of the chairs in the center of the room and two people perusing the shelves on the second floor, this entire library was empty and silent. _With a library of this size, why is it almost completely empty?_ I thought.

Keeping my concerns in mind, I set out to talk with the few people who were inside of this library. Not wanting to disturb the guy with a baseball cap over his eyes laying back in a chair, I decided to talk with the two people on the second floor.

Ascending the stairs, I was close enough to make out that the two figures were of a short guy with snow-white hair and a slightly taller girl with blonde hair. Moving closer to them, the girl seemed to notice us approach, and she put back the book she was looking at and turned to face us. The guy continued to walk down the aisle, running his hand along the books lining the shelves.

The girl spoke first as we reached her. "It's nice to see you again, Mizuki." She bowed slightly towards her, with Mizuki reciprocating the gesture. She turned towards me and repeated the motion. "I am **Eiko Nakagane**. It is a pleasure to meet you. I sincerely hope that you are feeling better." Her voice was calm and clear, spacing and accentuating her words as she spoke. Her face was the mirror image of her voice, beautiful and calm, with no imperfections to be found. Her blue eyes complemented her short blonde hair, which was held in place by a small black headband with a gold-trimmed pattern. The rest of her appearance was immaculate and tidy; a black skirt with black socks that came up to just below the knee and simple black shoes, all below a black blazer and white dress shirt, both buttoned up, accented by a large red bow, which was tied neatly into an elegant arrangement. The only other points of interest were the white gloves she was wearing, which covered her hand up to her wrists.

After spacing out for a moment, I snapped back into reality and gave my own introduction. "My name is Keiichi Satou. Super High School Level Bad Luck." I managed to get through saying it without a pause or a stutter, but the words were still just as painful to get out. Eiko seemed unaffected by the proclamation. "I see, Mr. Satou. I sincerely hope that we may get along." Being called 'Mr. Satou' was strange to hear, especially after she had referred to Mizuki by her first name, but if I had to guess, I'd say it was a girl thing.

A moment of silence passed before Mizuki spoke up. "Actually, Eiko, I'm fairly certain you didn't mention what your talent was when we introduced ourselves before." Eiko's face became more serious, and it looked like she was thinking intensely about her response. 

After a few moments, she shook her head before responding. "I am sorry, but I cannot divulge the details of my talent to you, for the simple reason that **I myself cannot recall what my talent happens to be**."

I couldn't believe it. "You mean you don't know what your talent is? How could you not know what your world-class talent is?" I must've sounded a bit too forceful or condescending, as my response received a slight pinch from Mizuki, who gave me a disappointed look.

Eiko sighed. "Unfortunately, I do not know the answer to your question, Mr. Satou. Ever since I regained consciousness in the hotel on this island, I have been pondering that question myself. However, I have made no discoveries, and my reason for being invited to Hope's Peak still remains a mystery."

_How could someone forget what their amazing talent is?_ I thought. Before I could ask anything further, Mizuki pinched my arm and spoke up. "Don't worry, Eiko. I'm sure you'll remember in time." Mizuki gave Eiko a reassuring smile. 

It was at this time that the guy who was wandering the aisle before walked up behind Eiko, who proceeded to turn and let him pass.

"I'm sorry to have eavesdropped, but if I heard correctly, you are the one who was still unconscious when we left the hotel, correct?" he asked.

"Yeah, that would be me..." I replied weakly. I was starting to catch on to the idea that I looked weak to everyone else, and I was simply, 'the guy who was still unconscious'.

He nodded before extending his hand out to me. "Well then I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is **Ichijo Yuzaki**. I am known as the **Super High School Level Pianist**." Ichijo seemed to have an air of formality and intelligence in common with Eiko. His empty grey eyes stared towards me, seemingly looking more past me than at me. His short hair was white like a fresh snow drift, and it's waves intertwined in an intricate pattern on top of his head. His attire added to his aura of formality as well; a black blazer with a white dress shirt on which a slim black tie rested, black slacks and black shoes, all of which blended nicely to have a formal and subdued feel.

I took his hand and shook it loosely. "Keiichi Satou. Super High School Level Bad Luck." It seemed that I was getting accustomed to saying it now, as it didn't affect me as much to say it anymore.

Mizuki seemed to catch on to my discomfort with talking about my talent, and she made sure to change the subject before anyone could prod me for more information. "Ichijo is a star in the classical music world. His piano pieces are truly divine, and he has a huge following not only in Japan but all across the globe. Even more astounding than his amazing skills at playing the piano, he apparently never writes down any of his songs, but memorizes every single one of them for his performances."

Silence ensued for only a moment, and Eiko was the next one to speak. "More importantly, this library is truly amazing. It not only rivals the size of many world-class libraries, but also seems to rival their collections. There are books in this library for seemingly every subject in seemingly every language." Eiko picked one of the books off of the shelf nearest to her and began flipping through it, scanning the pages intently. The book itself seemed to be written in a language I couldn't read.

"But that still doesn't explain why there are no people here," Mizuki noted. "Despite being perfectly clean and having working utilities, there are no people to be found besides us."

The four of us stood in silence, pondering the answer to our peculiar situation. Suddenly, Eiko pointed over the railing at the guy who seemed to be relaxing down on the first floor. "You should introduce yourself to him while you have the chance. Ichijo and I will remain here and continue looking through these books for any useful information." Eiko gave a reassuring smile before disappearing into another aisle with Ichijo in tow.

Taking her advice, I headed down the stairs back down to the first floor, where, to my surprise, the guy who was relaxing just a moment before was stretching and heading for the door. I called out to him just as he reached the door. "Hey, wait!"

My sudden shout took him by surprise, and he stepped back from the door in shock. "What?"

"We haven't introduced each other yet!" I called out to him as I walked over. Mizuki was following shortly behind me, her footsteps in rhythm with mine.

As I reached where he was standing, I took a long look at the guy. He was a bit taller than me, and a bit more well-built than I was. His appearance was very different from most of the people I had met so far, however. Instead of a tidy school uniform, he was wearing a loose black t-shirt and a worn pair of jeans. On his feet he wore a pair of gray sneakers, which were covered in faint patches of dirt. Around his neck was a thin silver necklace, which ended in a cross. Covering the top of his brown hair was a two-tone black and white baseball cap, underneath which it seemed that he was wearing a red bandana of some sort. Overall, he came across as ragged and laid-back, his hands shoved into his jeans pockets.

"Ah, you must be the guy who was taking a nap earlier," he said with a grin.

"Yep. You got me..." I was really getting sick of being referred to like that. Sticking my hand out towards him, I continued. "Anyway, I'm Keiichi Satou, Super High School Level Bad Luck. Nice to meet you." I threw it out there as quickly and as nonchalantly as I could, trying to avoid piquing his interest.

He grabbed my hand and gave it a firm shake. "Name's **Takada Itachi**. **Super High School Level Informant**."

I gave him a puzzled look. "Informant? You mean like a police informant?" I asked.

Takada chuckled. "Heh, not exactly." He reached up and pulled his hat down to readjust it.

I waited a few moments for him to continue, but he didn't speak. As I opened my mouth to question him further, he grabbed my arm and pulled me closer to him. The sudden motion surprised me, and I was caught off guard.

He pulled me close to him and said, "Look, let's try to keep this simple. You stay out of my way, and I'll stay out of yours, got it?" Upon finishing, he pushed me away and in one fluid motion disappeared out of the library.

I was stunned. _What the hell is his problem?_ I thought. While trying to decipher the answer to that question in my head, Mizuki chimed in. "From what little I could gather, it seems like Takada worked with the police for a few years as a undercover youth agent, but he apparently started selling sensitive police information to the gangs in his hometown. The police couldn't touch him, however, because not only was he protected by the gangs, but he simply knew too much about the inner workings of the police force and would threaten to spill it all if they tried to arrest him. Rumor says that he's a master of manipulation, and will use any means necessary to find out anything about anybody."

"Why was somebody like him invited to Hope's Peak?" I asked. Mizuki simply shrugged her shoulders. It seemed that Takada was another one of my classmates who was a real mystery, along with Kazuki. I made a mental note to remember to ask him about what he had meant later, shook my head to clear it and headed out of the library in search of the rest of my classmates. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Following the stone pathway along its route led us past a rather precarious cliff, which confirmed my suspicions from before. The coast of this island was a sheer cliff face with jagged rocks at the bottom. Standing against one of the fence posts was a girl with dark crimson hair and a flowing black scarf. Her attire was simple besides the scarf, with a long-sleeve white blouse, a black vest, a plaid skirt and black stockings, with black boots that ran up past her ankles. The one thing that didn't seem professional about her was the small white plastic stick that was protruding from her mouth. _Is she sucking on a lollipop?_ I asked myself.

As I walked towards her, her eyes did not move from their positions, staring off into the sea. However, once I was fairly close to her, she spoke without looking over at me. "Don't come any closer," she said with conviction.

I was shocked. "W-what?" was the only response I could muster.

She took a step back from the fence post and shot a glare over at me. Her dark crimson eyes shot daggers at me, and if looks could kill, I'd surely be dead. "If you wish to continue your pathetic existence than I suggest that you move no closer."

Mizuki, while grabbing my arm and hiding behind me slightly, said, "H-hey, don't you think you should introduce yourself to him first?"

The girl froze for only a moment before relaxing a bit. She let out a short breath before replying. "Hmph. I suppose so. It would not be justified for you to die not knowing the name of your killer." She took the cherry-flavored lollipop out of her mouth as she spoke. "You shall know me as **K**. That is all you are permitted to know at this point in time." 

_K? That's it?_ I thought to myself, fearing the consequences of saying anything out loud. 

Mizuki gave me a slight tug, and whispered quietly to me, "That's K, the **Super High School Level Agent**. From what she told me before, she's a secret agent of unknown origins. Everything about her is shrouded in rumor and lies, but many attribute some of the most sensitive government operations' success to her alone. Apparently she works with any government that is willing to hire her, and she holds loyalty to no group in particular. Also, I think that it's pretty obvious, but she seems very dangerous, so I would proceed with caution."

I looked back at K. She didn't look very much like a secret agent, but I guess that's part of the job description. Even if she wasn't dangerous, she sure acted like it. K put her lollipop back in her mouth and glared at me again. "And you? What shall I refer to you as? It would not be justified for me to end your life without at least hearing your name."

I swallowed, and I swore I felt drops of sweat running down my neck. "Uh... I'm Keiichi Satou. Super High School Level Bad Luck." I was too afraid of what might happen to worry about how stupid my talent was.

"Hmph. You truly must be afflicted with a curse of misfortune for you to have crossed paths with the likes of me," K replied, her arms crossed. "Killing one who has had their fate so cruelly twisted by a spell of bad luck would bring me no enjoyment."

_You were serious about killing me?_ I laughed awkwardly. "T-thanks, I guess..."

K looked back over the edge of the cliff again before continuing. "It seems that destiny has assembled us in front of the gates of hell." She stood back from the fence and looked up into the sky. "I never would have guessed that the fiery pits of Lucifer's domain would have a view this peaceful." She laughed to herself. "You must feel the precarious balance of tranquility and destruction that resides on this island as well, don't you?"

K was making absolutely no sense at all. _What the hell is she talking about?_ "Um... I guess so?" I answered, unsure of what exactly to say.

"Hmph. Answer more definitively, or I may have to succumb to Ares's will and serve as his sword; sending you to your untimely demise," K responded, seemingly ready to pounce at me.

Mizuki pulled on my arm again, suggesting that we escape this situation before things got any more dangerous. I agreed. "Well, I still need to meet the rest of the students, so I'll see you later, K," I said, whilst hastily backing away.

"Hmph." With nothing to say in return, K moved back to watching the sea from her vantage point on the wooden fence.

Leaving K behind, Mizuki and I continued along the path towards the next building we could find as fast as we could, still slightly worried about our safety. 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After turning along the path once more, we came across the next building. It looked fairly run-down, almost post-apocalyptic. The paint on the outside of the building itself was peeling off and exposing the plain gray wall behind it. While fairly small when compared to the library or the hotel, the building itself was still fairly spacious. The sign above the entrance was in some language I couldn't understand, but the illustrations of guns were just as insightful as the name would be. 

Walking up and down the aisles, I could clearly see that the inside of this store was stocked full of all kinds of firearms. Shotguns, rifles, pistols, sub-machine guns; any type of gun you could imagine, plus a whole lot more that you didn't even know existed were all shoved together on shelves in this one little store. Being amongst so many dangerous weapons, I started to feel a bit nervous. 

Mizuki seemed to be feeling somewhat nervous as well, holding onto my sleeve slightly as we walked through the aisles. I decided to pick up one of the guns to see if it was real or not. The gun that I decided on was a small caliber black pistol sitting on a shelf towards the top of the aisle. With it in my hand, I realized that the clip sitting next to it was completely empty. That's a relief, none of these guns have any bullets in them, I thought. While mostly guns lined the shelves of the store's aisles, there were also some useful materials towards the back of the store; things like ropes, masks, gloves, chains, and tools. 

Suddenly, from one of the aisles towards the back of the store, I could hear shouts of joy and excitement. Deciding to go check and see who was making so much noise, Mizuki and I headed off towards the sounds. To my surprise, it wasn't just one person, but two people. Both of them were girls, but their appearances were drastically different. The one who was doing the shouting was tall, with matching short light blue hair and eyes. She was wearing a short black jacket over a normal white shirt, and a pair of ripped jeans. The shorter, quieter one was wearing a long-sleeve purple sweater that matched her long purple tinted hair. Underneath the sweater, she was wearing a simple white collared shirt with a small, thin purple bow tied around the collar. Her black shorts covered the top of her thighs, with her high socks covering her legs down from above the ankle. Her dark blue eyes sat behind cute looking purple framed glasses, which were decorated with tiny animal designs.

The taller, louder one spoke first upon seeing us. "Hey! You must be that guy from before! The one who was dying!" she yelled enthusiastically. She came over to where we were standing, the quiet girl following timidly behind.

_Dying? Did I really look that bad?_ I thought to myself. "Uh...yeah. My name is Keiichi Satou, nice to meet you." I extended my hand out towards the girl, who took it and shook it firmly. "Oh, I should mention that I'm the Super High School Level Bad Luck," I added.

Her expression changed and she let out a short laugh. "Bad Luck, huh? I didn't even think that good luck was a talent, but now you're sayin' you're the bad luck?" she responded. 

I nonchalantly scratched the back of my head. "Well, what can I say..." I replied. I was desperately trying to avoid talking about my stupid 'talent' like it was the plague.

She seemed to catch the hint and moved on to her introduction. "I'm sure that you've heard the name **Ryouko Kirishima** before, right?" she said with a grin.

I thought for a moment before replying. "No, can't say I have."

Ryouko turned her head. "Really? The **Super High School Level Markswoman**? You sure that you've never heard of me?" She seemed to be in disbelief that I hadn't heard of her.

Mizuki took the opportunity to fill me in. "I'm surprised you've never heard of her. Ryouko is arguably the best markswoman there is, some say even better than any marksman as well. Her skill with a gun in hand is unmatched, and she's won countless competitions around the globe." Ryouko smiled from the compliments. 

Mizuki continued, "She's a role model for any aspiring markswoman, and has reshaped the way we look at recreational shooting, helping it rise as a popular sport that is watched by fans everywhere on their televisions."

Ryouko certainly looked the part of a markswoman. She was holding a pistol in her hand, spinning it on one finger, while also having a large rifle slung over her shoulder. She had a huge grin on her face, and seemed to be trying to look nonchalant while Mizuki spoke of her accolades. 

After a few seconds of relishing in her accomplishments, Ryouko turned and put her hand on the other girl's shoulder. "This is my little sister **Yuki**. She's the **Super High School Level Veterinarian**."

Yuki pulled her sweater sleeves over her hands and put the stuffed puppy she was holding in front of her face before quietly saying, "H-hello..."

I was shocked, to say the least. "Wait, she's your sister? You're both Super High School Level students in the same class?" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. _How could such amazing talent come from the same family; sisters no less?_

Ryouko's face lit up. "Yep, she sure is. She's even more amazing than I am! You should see the kind of stuff she can do!" Yuki was still standing slightly behind Ryouko, keeping her eyes focused down at the ground.

"Yuki is a prodigy of the veterinary world. No one is quite sure how she does it, but there are countless records of miraculous recoveries in animals that she's treated. She apparently volunteers all of her time to working at local clinics, and takes in an unmeasurable amount of stray animals and treats them. High-quality clinics all across Japan have invited her to instruct their staffs. However, what's most amazing is that she's only fourteen years old," Mizuki announced.

I stood there stunned. Not only were these two Super High School Level sisters from the same family, but one of them was only fourteen years old. 

Standing there in awe, I truly began to pity myself, for while I was simply a normal high school student with abnormally bad luck, there were people here with stories and abilities so amazing that I couldn't even begin to understand what it might be like to have talents like them.

"Well, this place isn't too bad." Ryouko broke me out of my trance with her sudden statement. "It seems like although it doesn't have any bullets, it does have an amazing stock of both guns and some useful supplies."

"There is no ammunition in this store?" I asked. I knew that none of the guns had any bullets in them, I thought there would at least be a section in the store for ammunition. 

Ryouko sighed. "Unfortunately not. All of the guns in here may look cool, but without bullets they aren't going to be useful any time soon."

"That's probably a good thing, don't you think?" I asked. Although it seemed dangerous from the outset, the lack of ammunition made this place much less menacing. 

Ryouko huffed and turned away. She seemed to take personal offense to my comment. 

"Besides the supplies in the back, there doesn't seem to be all that much else useful in here," I admitted.

Ryouko seemed to disagree. "Whatever. I'm going to go look at the rest of these guns! They're sure to have some rare ones in a stash like this!" she said, walking off down the aisle, Yuki following closely behind. I could have sworn that Yuki gave a short wave to us before disappearing behind a stack of shotguns.

With nothing else to look at and no one else to talk to, Mizuki and I decided to continue onwards to find the rest of the students.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Much to our surprise, Mizuki and I did not have to go far to find more of our classmates. While continuing down the stone pathway, which seemed to circle back around the island towards the hotel complex, we encountered two more students, who were examining an oddly placed stone tower, which happened to be right in the middle of the island.

The first to notice us was a strange-looking girl with bright pink hair. She was wearing an odd-looking blue hoodie with the sleeves rolled up on top of a simple white t-shirt with a cute drawing of a cat on it. Her pink skirt was bright, but it was dwarfed by the oddity of the socks she was wearing, which had lots of different types of bear drawings laid in out in no set pattern. The strangest thing of all was the fact that everything that she was wearing had been stained in several places with different colors.

She ran over to us, almost sprinting. She jumped up in excitement when she finally reached us, her fluffy white hood popping on over her head. She laughed and pulled her hood off before speaking. "Hey hey hey hey! Miki-chan, who's this guy?" she said, motioning with her head towards me. Before Mizuki could respond, the girl started talking again. Then again, it wasn't really 'talking', but more like shouting every word at a million miles a second. "Oh, yeah! I almost forgot! You're the weird guy who was sleeping in!" She frowned. "Aww, I wanted to draw stuff on your face before you woke up..."

 _I'm glad you're happy that I'm not dead,_ I thought, sarcastically. This girl honestly left me speechless. _And I was supposed to be the weird one?_

Mizuki, trying to keep the situation under control, interjected. "Hey, Hazuki. Why don't you introduce yourself? Since he was asleep, he doesn't know your name yet," she said calmly.

Hazuki's eyes lit up and she squealed in joy. "Alright! I loooooove introductions! Here goes!" She took a deep breath and put her hands on her head in thought. After a few seconds, her face lit up again. "My name is **Hazuki Takeyuchi**! Will you marry me!?" she exclaimed.

"Wait, wait. That's definitely not right..." Hazuki said, shaking her head. "Ah, I got it! My name is **Hazuki Takeyuchi**! Please accept my condolences!" she shouted. I still had no response. "Awww, that wasn't right either?!" she cried.

She started to make intense 'thinking noises', or whatever you could possibly call what she was doing. She sighed and threw her hands up into the air before smiling and laughing again. "Ah, whatever! That was as good an introduction as any, don't you think?" she asked. 

Before waiting for a response, she started talking with Mizuki again. "So Miki-chan, what do you think about this island?! It's totally awesome, right? Right?" she asked, jumping up and down. "I hope we get to play together and stuff! We should totally have a party or something, don't you think, Miki-chan?" she shouted.

_She totally forgot about the part where I introduce myself!_ I thought. Mizuki gave me an empathetic look and smiled at Hazuki. "Yeah, of course," Mizuki replied.

Hazuki laughed and smiled, clearly satisfied with that answer. She ran off and resumed her examination of seemingly everything in sight. 

Mizuki let out a sigh before speaking. "Well, that's Hazuki for you. She's the **Super High School Level Artist** , by the way. She's recently taken the anime world by storm with her amazing artwork. If you look at the most poplar recent anime, those are more than likely drawn up by her. Rumor has it that she drew many of her best anime under an anonymous name and only recently came out into the public eye. Her works are easy to identify because of their particular art style and obsessive attention to detail." Mizuki paused for a moment to catch her breath before continuing. "However, she's also apparently gained a large following due to her bizarre fashion sense and uh... unique... personality."

I nodded. Hazuki certainly was an... interesting person. I noticed her skipping around to one of the bushes, suddenly shoving her hand inside, seemingly looking for something to pull out. Of course, she simply pulled her hand out in pain and ran back over to Mizuki and asked for help. 

"Miki-chan! I tried to grab that butterfly over there but now my hand is all cut up!" she shouted, with tears in her eyes. Mizuki grabbed her injured hand and comforted Hazuki the best that she could.

Turning and making my way closer to the tower itself, I decided to talk to the other student standing there; a guy with dirty-blonde hair and a black and yellow jacket with a white shirt underneath. He almost looked as if he was wearing a jumpsuit or something. "Hey there!" I said, attempting my so-called 'assertive strategy'. He seemed to respond well, and he smiled and gave a short wave in my direction.

"You're the guy we left back at the hotel, right?" he asked. Without waiting for a response, he nonchalantly put his hand out towards mine. "I'm **Lars Collins** , nice to meetcha!" he said with a smile.

Lars Collins? The name definitely wasn't Japanese. "Keiichi Satou, nice to meet you too, Lars," I replied. "Where are you from?"

He laughed. "You guys are quick to pick up on that. I'm originally from the U.S., but I've been racing in Japan for about two years now."

"Racing?" I asked, puzzled.

He smirked. "Ya know, racing. Like with cars and stuff? That's my talent, you know! Lars Collins, **Super High School Level Street Racer**!"

I was certainly curious; racing cars wasn't really something I'd ever associated with high school students. "Hey, aren't you still in high school? You shouldn't even have a license yet!" I said.

"Well..." Lars trailed off, scratching the back of his head. "You see, Street Racing isn't exactly legal, so not having a license is the least of my worries."

_Why did Hope's Peak invite so many criminals and weirdos?_ I wondered. 

Just as I was about to ask more, Mizuki, who I hadn't notice return, chimed in. "Lars is well known in America as well as Japan for his racing skills. He's never lost a race in either country, and was the uncontested winner of the international street racing event 'Race Wars'. His racing skills are said to be so amazing that even famous race-car drivers have secretly asked him to teach them to drive like him."

Lars scratched the back of his head again and took a step back from the tower. "Anyways, I think I'm done exploring this tower here," he said.

"Find anything interesting?" I asked. Looking up at the tower, I realized that it wasn't very far to the top of it. The entire thing was made up of stone and concrete, with a small door off to one side which I assumed was a set of stairs leading up to the top. At the top of the tower was a large viewing area with windows, which would probably have a great view of the entire island. 

He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, there wasn't anything of interest up top, but from up there I could see that **there are some more islands close by** , connected by bridges." He paused. "But there doesn't seem to be anything else even remotely close. The sea just seems to stretch on forever."

"There are more islands around here?" I asked. 

Lars nodded. "It seems like only this one and the one in the middle are accessible though." He pointed off to a large archway in the distance. "That bridge should take ya right to the center island."

"Thanks," I replied. He waved back in return, and resumed his examination of the exterior of the tower. I noticed Hazuki hopping about in the distance, but I didn't want to stick around for too long. After all, there were still more classmates I had to meet.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


	3. Prologue: The Isle of Despair - Part III

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of the prologue, and what I have written so far. I'll probably upload the first chapter over the weekend, whenever I have time to finish writing it. Sorry that this part is kind of long, it just had no good way to split it up.

Mizuki and I headed down the stone path once again towards the bridge that Lars had mentioned. On the way, we noticed a smaller dirt path that led further down towards a large rock archway. Deciding to check this path out before heading to the other islands, we changed course and took the worn path. 

After passing underneath the large archway, we emerged into a large beach area. The sandy beach itself was colored a light orange by the light of the setting sun, with several colorful beach chairs and umbrellas sitting at the other end. The beach itself was mostly bare, but it was seemingly the only place on the island with safe access to the body of water surrounding it. Finally, it seemed, there was an area of the shore that wasn't just a cliff. 

Looking towards the water on the close side of the beach, I spotted another one of my classmates. Walking along the beach was another one of the students, a guy with tanned skin and bleached-blonde hair. He was wearing a black dress shirt and a dark purple blazer over it, with a necklace that had a strange spiral design. He was wearing black jeans with a chain belt and normal black shoes. 

As Mizuki and I stepped awkwardly through the sand, he made no motions or gestures toward us. He either didn't notice us enter the beach area or didn't care to acknowledge us. 

"We haven't introduced ourselves yet, right?" I asked once he was close enough to hear me. He seemed to raise his chin and glare his eyes down at me. His blue eyes were cold as ice, and his gaze felt like it could freeze me in place.

"No, we haven't," he replied. " **Shawn Richards** , **Super High School Level Lawyer** ," he said with a sigh. 

He seemed to have some sort of foreign accent, but I couldn't quite tell where exactly it was from. "Mind if I ask you where you're from? I can't quite place your accent," I asked. I wasn't sure which I was more intrigued by; his name or his title. The name was obviously foreign, but his appearance didn't quite fit with my mind's image of a lawyer either. 

"Hmph. Why should I?" he said, turning away from me. "If you don't already know who I am then you obviously are no one that I wish to associate with." He paused. "Besides, I have no intention of befriending any of you, at least not until I figure out what in the world is going on."

_What's with him?_ I thought to myself. I sighed. It seemed that not everyone was as willing as the rest to get to know each other. _Then again, who can really blame him in a situation like this?_

I shook my head. "Anyway, I'm Keiichi Satou. Super High School Level Bad Luck." I extended a hand out towards him.

He crossed his arms, refusing to accept my offer of a handshake. "If that's all that you need then I'll be leaving. I wanted to examine the hotel in more detail alone," he said condescendingly. He didn't seem to wait for an answer, and started off towards the road without another word.

Mizuki poked me and spoke once again. "I know Shawn may seem cold and snobby, but he's really a lawyer of unmatched potential. Although he's only handled a few large scale cases, the one's he has been involved with have turned out to be huge ordeals in which he turned the tables and surprised everyone, bringing the truth about his client's innocence to light," she said. "Similarly to Hazuki, it seems that he's also received a lot of fans because of his appearance, but he never seems to go out into the public eye very often."

_That still doesn't explain what is up with his attitude_ I thought. Maybe he's just stressed out by this whole situation. Or maybe he was just simply a cold and condescending type of guy by nature. Whatever the case, it would do me no good to brood over something I couldn't possibly know or do anything about. I decided to continue my exploration of the beach area. 

Farther down the beach were two more students, one of which was splashing about in the water. She had long brown hair tied into a long ponytail, and she seemed to be wearing athletic attire; a simple white shirt with blue trim and red shorts along with red sneakers. The other person was a huge bald guy, who was dark skinned and muscular. As we approached him, the other girl seemed to notice and came running towards us as well.

"Hey there! You must be the guy who was still resting! How are ya feeling?" the girl asked. She put her hands on her hips and smiled, still dripping wet from her playing around in the water.

"Alright, I guess," I responded truthfully. Compared to when I had woken up back in the hotel, I was feeling much better; both physically and mentally. I was even feeling a bit less stressed out by this weird situation I found myself in. Through introducing myself and getting to know my classmates, I made a realization; although this situation was surely strange, it seemed that we were in no immediate danger. "I'm Keiichi Satou by the way. Super High School Level Bad Luck," I added.

She smiled. "You're lookin' at **Kurami Suzuka** , the **Super High School Level Track Star**!" she proclaimed, giving a salute.

Mizuki chimed in before I could even reply. "Kurami is arguably the best runner in all of Japan, maybe even the world! She's destroyed any and every record she's ever come across, and she's eclipsed every other professional high school runner in every competition she's been to. Rumor has it that she's already secured a spot on Japan's olympic team!" Her eyes seemed to be sparkling. Mizuki sure seemed to be excited about this girl for some reason. Is she a big fan of Kurami? I thought.

Kurami put her hand on her head. "Aww, I'm not that great or anything," she replied. "But don't get me wrong, I'm not admittin' that there's anybody better than me out there!" she shouted. Are you trying to be humble or not? I thought.

With Kurami smiling and posing with her hands on her hips, I decided to ask about the other student behind Kurami. "Anyway, what about him?" I asked, pointing to the rather imposing guy standing off to the side behind Kurami. He hadn't said a word, but seemed to be listening to our conversation thus far.

Kurami turned and put her hand on his shoulder. "This oaf here is our very own **Super High School Level Blacksmith**." He took a step closer and extended his rather large hand out towards me.

"The name is **Oswald Smith**. You can just call me Smith," he said in a deep voice.

I shook his hand, but it was more of him shaking my entire arm. He was extremely well built, and he even had some black facial hair growing on his chin. His head was devoid of hair, and gave off a bright shine underneath the setting sun. His attire was slightly rugged; a pair of black suspenders over a dirty white shirt with simple boots. He certainly was intimidating, and if it wasn't for Kurami introducing him to me, I'm not sure I would have been able to approach him. 

I decided to skip asking him where he was from, as that seemed to pan out terribly on the last person I tried it on. I made a mental note to ask Smith that question later on. 

"Smith is a relatively new face on the blacksmithing scene, but his amazing weapons have revolutionized the new age of blacksmithing," Mizuki noted. "His intuitive techniques and striking attention to detail make his weapons not only useful tools, but also true works of art. He apparently owns his own forge and makes weapons for important world figures, using his secret blend of metals."

Smith nodded. "Indeed. Perhaps one day I can show you some of the weapons that come out of my forge," he said, crossing his arms. He seemed to have a content look on his face, being complimented by Mizuki like that. 

Smith cleared his throat before speaking again. "Enough about me, however. It appears that this beach area is the only part of this island with direct access to the sea," he said.

"Not only that, but it's also totally perfect for having a beach party or going swimming! The water is perfect and clean!" Kurami shouted, running off towards the waves.

"It is strange though. There is no sign of any type of boat or other vehicle here or anywhere else on the island," Smith said, furrowing his brow. "If we were taken to this island, then how exactly were we transported?" he asked.

"Hmm..." I replied. I had no definitive answer. Not only did we not know where we were, we didn't even know how we got here. _Just what is going on?_ I thought. The surreal situation we were all in had been obscured and put to the side during all of the introductions, but the question rose to the surface again.

Smith sighed. "Well, there doesn't seem to be anything else left to examine around here," he said. "Once Kurami is done playing around," Smith said, sighing, "we'll head back to the hotel. I'll let you know if we find anything else."

"Thanks, Smith," I responded. He definitely looked and acted like the reliable type. "We still have to take a look at the other islands, so we'll see you guys later," I said. Smith nodded and turned towards Kurami.

Leaving underneath the rock archway, Mizuki and I headed over to the bridge to the other island. The bridge itself was imposing, but nothing else about it was noteworthy. The wooden planks laid out across its surface were sturdy, and no creaking could be heard while walking across. I did however, notice that there was a small sign on the left side of the bridge, labeled only with a large, black number: **1**.

The walk across the bridge was quite long, and when we finally reached the other side, the sun was quickly dropping below the horizon.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The other island was much smaller than the one we had just come from, only about a quarter of the size. It seemed to be the central island of the islands around, since all of the bridges connected back to this one. Unfortunately, all but one of the bridges were blocked by huge iron bars; the one we had just crossed from the original island.

The island itself seemed bare of any buildings or other structures. A stone path similar to the one on the first island ran across the perimeter of the island, which was dotted with trees and small shrubbery.

The only other place of note seemed to be a large forum in the middle of the island. Looking like something out of a textbook on ancient Greece or Rome, the forum had many white columns supporting a large stone ring that left the top of the forum open to the sky. The forum itself looked like what the textbooks had said it would have been used for; public debates and performances. A large depression in the ground made of stone was in the center of it, with steps serving as the seating areas. In the direct center of the forum was a large square stone protruding up slightly from the ground, but nothing else was around to catch our attention.

"Hey, you must be the guy who was unconscious earlier," an unfamiliar voice said from behind me.

I turned around to see another student; a guy about my height with a simple appearance. Wearing a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a loose brown tie in addition to black jeans and sneakers, he gave off a more casual vibe than most of the other students. "Yeah, I am," I replied.

"Well, then it's nice to meet you. I'm **Yosuke Hasegawa**." He put his hand out towards me and we shook hands loosely.

"Keiichi Satou, Super High School Level Bad Luck," I replied. Now that I had done it so many times, saying my talent out loud almost became habit, and the words came easily.

He laughed. "Well isn't that something!" he said, grinning. "Guess we've got both the good and the bad now, huh?"

"You mean you're the **Super High School Level Good Luck**?" I asked.

Yosuke nodded. "That's right. Just got picked by lottery a week or two ago." He sighed. "It's really not even a talent worth inviting me over, but I couldn't refuse the gesture." He smiled. "At least it seems that someone here should understand where I'm coming from."

I smiled back. "I guess so," I replied. It was strange to think that even someone with no talent at all like Yosuke was still better than me. Just because I have bad luck doesn't mean I'm not just a normal everyday high school student. Now that I've seen all of the Super High School Level Students, I can't help but think that I'm way out of my element.

I took another look around the forum. It certainly looked odd and out of place on an island like this. Then again, I had no idea where this island even was, so I couldn't say for sure whether this was unusual or not. 

I decided to ask for Yosuke's opinion. "So, what are your thoughts on our current situation?" I asked.

Yosuke sighed. "Well, it seems that we're trapped on these two islands, at least for now. From looking around briefly before, I didn't see anything that could help us get back to shore, not that we know which way the shore is though..." He smiled. "But it looks like we have everything we need to survive, plus a lot more to keep us busy while we wait for rescue. I'm sure someone will realize that we've gone missing eventually," he said.

"You sure seem pretty calm in a situation like this. Why are we here in the first place? How did we even get here and why can't I remember coming here?" I asked, my words becoming more forceful.

"Don't worry, I'm sure everything is fine. Maybe this is just a little welcoming party or something? I wouldn't put it past the upperclassmen to pull a prank on us or something," Yosuke replied. "I don't see any other possibility for why we found ourselves here on this island."

I wasn't so easily convinced. "Are you sure about that? What if we've been kidnapped and being held here for ransom?" I said. "We are Hope's Peak students after all, I'm sure that we're worth a decent amount."

Yosuke frowned. "Come on, don't be so pessimistic. You're just over thinking things. I'm sure somebody from Hope's Peak is going to show up soon and tell us we won some sort of island vacation or something," he replied, smiling.

I sighed. Nothing seemed to get this guy down. Just as I was about to question him further, a certain noise became apparent to me. Mizuki gave my sleeve a tug and pointed over towards a small television monitor that was mounted to one of the columns around the forum. I had taken notice of several monitors that seemed to be spread out all over the island before, but they had all been off and seemed nonoperational. Along with the several security cameras that I had seen, they were the only things that seemed especially suspicious.

Taking a step closer, I realized that it was the source of the noise. On the screen was nothing but static, except for a rough silhouette in the background. The shadow kept shifting and warping, so I couldn't quite make out what it was. It wasn't long before the noise quieted and a new noise replaced it. It was a carefree, almost childish sounding voice.

"Eh? Is this thing on? Hello!? Can you hear me? Testing, testin-" The voice paused. "Ah, good, you're listening! Ahem. Attention all Hope's Peak Academy students. Please report to the forum on the central island immediately. Don't even think about skipping out, or else you'll be punished! And don't waste any time! I don't like to be kept waiting, you know!" With that, the monitor powered off.

A moment of silenced passed, with Mizuki and Yosuke speechless with surprised looks on their faces.

"What the hell was that all about?" I asked.

Mizuki shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows?" she replied.

"It's probably one of the Hope's Peak staff members, just like I said," Yosuke proclaimed. "I told you not to worry." He gave a reassuring smile.

The voice had told everyone to gather at the forum, so it would be a little while before everyone else showed up. Still mulling over everything in my head, I decided to make use of the time I had waiting for the other students to run over everyone again in my head as they arrived.

Standing next to me was **Mizuki Natsumi** , the **SHSL Student Council President**. She was the one who stayed back at the hotel and waited for me to wake up. She seems knowledgable about everyone here, so perhaps I should talk to her later about some of my lingering questions about my classmates.

Next to her was **Yosuke Hasegawa** , the **SHSL Good Luck**. He seemed to be taking this all pretty well; I'm not sure if this situation fazed him at all.

The first to arrive was the energetic **SHSL Track Star** , **Kurami Suzuka**. She was accompanied by **Oswald Smith** , the **SHSL Blacksmith**. They had been examining the beach area for any ways to get off the island and back to shore.

Next to arrive were the two girls who were investigating the gun shop, the **SHSL Markswoman** , **Ryouko Kirishima** , and her sister **Yuki Kirishima** , the **SHSL Veterinarian**. They had found a bunch of useful supplies in the back of the store, but there was no ammunition to be found.

After them came **Takada Itachi** , the **SHSL Informant**. He warned me to stay out of his was seemingly out of the blue. I'm still curious as to what his deal is.

Following him was the other mystery, **Kazuki Shirokane**. He was the **SHSL Logician** , if I remember correctly, not that I know exactly what that entails. He ran off on his own before I could get any answers out of him.

The next arrivals were the other two people who were searching the library, **Eiko Nakagane** , the girl who had apparently forgotten her own talent, and **Ichijo Yuzaki** , the **SHSL Pianist**. They had been searching through the books located at the library, but they hadn't found anything that useful.

Being pulled along by the spontaneous **Hazuki Takeyuchi** , the **SHSL Artist** , was the **SHSL Forensic Scientist** , **Hanako Konishi**. Hanako had been examining the cafe, which seemed to have a large supply of food and cooking equipment.

Slowly approaching the forum next was **Lars Collins** , the **SHSL Street Racer** , trying to keep his distance from the strange **SHSL Agent K**. Lars had been taking a look around from the top of that tower on the first island, and he mentioned that there were more islands around this central one. K was the strange but dangerous girl who had seemingly threatened to kill me. She also had an interesting way of talking, because whenever she spoke I couldn't understand what the hell she was talking about.

Last to arrive was **Shawn Richards** , the **SHSL Lawyer** , who had given me a cold attitude and went off to search the hotel alone. I still didn't even know where he was from, let alone what his problem with me was.

The sun was almost fully down over the horizon now, indicating that our exploration of this island had taken most of the day to complete. With everyone assembled in the central forum on the middle island, we waited impatiently for something to happen.

"So, what exactly are we supposed to be doing here?" Shawn remarked.

"Where the hell is that guy from the monitor?" Lars shouted.

Hazuki laughed. "Maybe he got stage fright!" she said.

"Heh, you're probably right. The guy just got scared and isn't gonna come out," Takada sneered.

"I'm not scared, I'm just waiting for you bastards to shut the hell up!" the voice from the monitor yelled.

Everyone looked around. The voice sounded like it was coming from underneath us. 

"Who's there?" yelled Takada.

"It sounds like it is coming from the middle of the forum," Smith said.

"Thaaat's right! I'm right here! If you'd please direct your attention to the center of the forum for the grand reveal!" the voice called out.

As all eyes focused on the stone platform in the center of the forum, something incredibly bizarre occured. Emerging out from the platform was what looked like a stuffed bear. However, his appearance clearly indicated that this was no ordinary teddy bear. Half-white and half-black; looking like a cute stuffed animal on the white side, but with a strangely shaped glowing red eye and bared teeth on the black side. The bear seemed like something out of a horror movie. Even more bizarre was the fact that it was moving, and even seemed to be laughing. Was this bear the source of the voice?

No one spoke for a few long moments. What were we supposed to say to something like that. The bear was the one to break the silence. "Aww, what's the matter? Cat got your tongues? Or is my handsome appearance leaving you starstruck?"

"What the hell is that thing?" Takada shouted.

Ryouko took a step back. "Why is that stuffed toy talking?" she asked.

Hanako pushed up her glasses. "I-it's probably just a machine of some sort," she stated.

"I'm not a toy or a machine! I'm **Monokuma**! And as you guys' **headmaster** , I demand some respect!" the bear shouted.

"H-headmaster? You're the headmaster?" Yosuke said.

Shawn chuckled. "What kind of ridiculous prank is this?" he asked.

"Oh, this is no prank, I assure you. I never joke about this kind of stuff!" Monokuma said, jumping down off of the stone platform.

"Oooh! It moves! It moves!" Hazuki shouted, while fidgeting in excitement. "It's sooo cute!" She ran over to Monokuma and attempted to pet him.

"Hey! Any actions against the headmaster are strictly forbidden! I don't want to have to punish you before the show's even started!" Monokuma yelled, running back to the platform.

"What show are you talking about? You better start talking before I get impatient," Ryouko said, cracking her knuckles.

"Ooh, somebody's excited to get this thing started! Then as headmaster I have no choice but to oblige!" Monokuma jumped in enjoyment. "As you may or may not already be aware, you guys are trapped on this island!"

Hanako gripped her bag tightly. "T-trapped? T-there's really no way off this island?" she asked, her voice wavering.

Shawn sighed. "Stop stating the obvious and get to the point already."

"Ouch, you're just as cold to your beloved headmaster as you are to anybody else! That's just too cruel, Mr. Lawyer! I'm innocent I tell you!" Monokuma replied.

Shawn crossed his arms and gritted his teeth. I decided to intervene. "Could you just get on with it already?" I said impatiently. Whatever the deal was with this bear, he seemed to know something about our situation.

"Sure thing, kiddies!" Monokuma responded. "Well, since you're here, you should get comfortable, because you'll be spending the rest of your lives here on this island! And as a bonus, you don't even have to worry about anything! You'll be supplied with all the food and supplies you'd ever need!"

"W-what the hell are you talking about!?" Takada shouted.

Yuki stepped further behind Ryouko. "W-what do you mean... live the rest of our lives here...?" she said timidly.

"Exactly what it sounds like, girly! You might as well forget about your lives back home, because you ain't going back! This island is your new permanent residence from now on!" Monokuma replied, dancing in place. "And don't even think about trying to call for help! There is no way to communicate with the outside world from this island!"

Takada was fuming now. He balled his hand into a fist while he shouted. "Like hell there isn't! I can just use this!" He reached into his pants pocket, only to pull it out a moment later. "W-what the hell...?"

"Didja really think it would be that easy, punk!? I've already taken the liberty of confiscating any of your personal devices! Wouldn't want you using your cell phones to call for help, now would I?" Monokuma laughed. "Upupu, not that it would do you any good anyway!"

"Y-you bastard!" Takada roared.

"You mean there's no way off this island?" Mizuki asked.

Monokuma puffed out his chest. "I'm glad you asked! In fact, thanks to my generosity, there is only one way to escape this island!"

"Well, spit it out already! What is this way off the island?" Kurami asked impatiently.

"Upupu, it's veeeeery simple! All you have to do to escape this island is murder one of your fellow classmates and get away with it!" Monokuma responded.  
"Y-you can't be serious!" Shawn said, unusually nervous.

"Oh I'm _beary_ serious. You can do the deed in any way you like! Stabbing, shooting, crushing, smashing, slashing, beating, strangling, poisoning, spearing; any kind of brutal method your little minds can imagine!" Monokuma said.

"What the hell is this? There's no way any of us would go along with this sick game!" Lars shouted.

"Yeah! What makes you think we're just going to go along with what you say?" Yosuke shouted.

"Like I said, you guys'll be living here for the rest of your lives! No one has to kill anybody if they don't want to! But if I were you I'd get crackin' on a murder plot! Wouldn't want to wait until you're all old and crusty to whip out your crazy scheme!" Monokuma said with glee.

"Screw you, you psycho teddy bear! No one here's stupid enough to listen to you!" Ryouko shouted.

Ichijo finally spoke up. "She's right. I'm sure that everyone here can coexist peacefully on this island together."

"Yeah! There's no way I'd try to kill Miki-chan or Yuki-chan or anyone!" Hazuki shouted. "We're all suuuuuper close friends!"

"I admire your faith in strangers you just met, I truly do! You can say all you want, but when the time comes, I'm certain that one of you will get the urge to kill," Monokuma replied. "And when you do... Upupu, then the real fun starts!"

"Why the hell are we even listening to this thing? Let's just destroy it, he's annoying the hell outta me!" Takada shouted, taking a step towards Monokuma. He grabbed Monokuma and lifted him into the air, prepared to give him a swift punch.

"HEY! Any violence against the headmaster is strictly prohibited! I guess I'll have to make an example outta you, won't I?" Monokuma shouted.

Suddenly, Monokuma fell silent, but his eye started flashing and a loud beeping sound replaced Monokuma's voice. "W-what the hell?" Takada said.

"H-hey, why's the bear making that beeping noise?" Lars asked.

I suddenly remembered what Monokuma had said earlier. This must be the punishment he was talking about. But then, that means- "Hey, get rid of that thing! Quick!" I yelled, urgency clear in my voice.

Takada panicked, but did as I had told him, hurling the bear into the center of the forum. A few seconds passed with the beeping getting faster and faster. And then-

 

** KABLAM!! **

 

Suddenly, the bear exploded, searing the ground below and throwing smoke and stone fragments all around the forum.

When the smoke cleared, the forum was quiet, and Monokuma was nowhere to be seen.

"Thank god that thing is gone now. It was really pissing me off," Takada said.

Suddenly, without warning, another Monokuma appeared from behind the platform. "Are you stupid or something? I just said that any actions against the headmaster are strictly forbidden! Anyone doing so will be swiftly punished!" Monokuma shouted.

"W-what the hell? Y-you just blew up!" Ryouko shouted.

"There's no way you survived a blast like that!" Hanako yelled.

"Of course not! My Monokuma self-destruct mechanism is super powerful! Enough to blow you guys to smithereens!" Monokuma shouted with glee. "That was a close one though, I thought for sure you'd get punished for breaking a rule!"

Kazuki took a step towards the bear. "What exactly do you mean by 'punished'?"

"Upupu, isn't it obvious? Well, I guess I have to spell things out _beary_ clearly for you guys." Monokuma raised a paw and several sharp claws extended out. "If you violate the rules... then I'll execute you on the spot."

The forum went completely silent. Everything that had just happened stop being a bizarre dream. Once Monokuma said that, they could sense that this was real.

_E-execute us? Is this bear for real?_ I asked myself. There was no way that this bear could execute any of us, right? But the explosion I had just witnessed begged to differ. If this bear could do something like that and still have a spare left over, surely whoever was controlling this thing could have even more dangerous weapons.

Monokuma took a step back and exhaled. "Finally got through those thick skulls of yours! You can't go against me, and your only chance at freedom is through murdering one of your friends!" He laughed. "I'm just dying to see what kind of despair-filled murders happen soon! The suspense is un _bear_ able!"

Eiko spoke up quietly. "Why are you subjecting us to this type of crazed game?"

"Upupu, isn't that obvious? I want you all to despair. Nothing more, nothing less. Once you guys give up your hope and embrace the despair, then things will really get exciting!" Monokuma replied.

"Anyways, now that that's all outta the way, we can move on to the fun stuff!" Monokuma announced. "On your persons, you'll find this nifty e-Handbook! It's a very important device for this Island Life of Mutual Killing, so make sure you look through it carefully! It's got all the rules of this trip posted in there too, so you can't plead ignorance to save yourself; no exceptions!"

Monokuma went back to his position on top of the stone platform again. "Oh, and one last thing! You've all got your own rooms back in Hotel Valetta, but there's a small catch! I've got all the room keys, so all of the doors will be unlocked at all times! Make sure you make good use of that when you're planning your next murder! I'll see you bastards later!" Monokuma shouted, as he disappeared into the ground.

No one said a word. The silence was oppressive. Everyone simply looked down at the ground or looked around in bewilderment. What could we say? What had just happened was absolutely insane, but we were forced to accept it as our new reality.

Surprisingly, the first one to speak was Mizuki. "We've gotta do something about Monokuma," she stated.

"I don't think that it's the bear that you should be worried about," Shawn said. "If I were you, I'd be more concerned about the threat of one of us believing that dastardly thing."

"What the hell are you talking about? We're not going to murder each other!" I shouted.

Shawn crossed his arms again. "And how are you so sure of that? How do you know one of us isn't already plotting to commit murder?" he said.

I looked around. Everyone's faces were pale. No one said a word. As much as I hated to admit it, Shawn was right. Any one of us could be plotting a killing and we'd have no way of knowing. How could I even be sure that I wouldn't think about killing? Spending the rest of my life here on this island with that crazy bear was a terrifying thought. But terrifying enough to make me commit murder? I couldn't be certain. If what that bear said really was true, then it was certainly possible that someone could try to kill and escape this island.

Shawn's words seemed to echo in everyone's ears. Looking around, it was clear to see the distrust forming around our group. Everyone was suspicious of everyone else, and everyone else was suspicious of them. Stuck in a confrontation like this, nobody was willing to make the first move.

Eventually, Kazuki was the first to dare making a move. He started off slowly towards the bridge without as much as a word. "Where do you think you're going?" Shawn asked.

Kazuki didn't even bother to turn around. "To the hotel. You should all do the same," he replied coldly. He kept walking and disappeared over the bridge.

"H-he's right, we can't just stay here forever. We should head back to our rooms and get some sleep," Lars suggested.

Shawn wasn't convinced. "Right, let's just go back to our unlocked rooms so someone can murder us in our sleep!" he shouted sarcastically.

"There's nothing we can do about that," Smith interjected. "All we can do right now is trust that no one will attempt a murder."

Shawn looked away and sighed. "Like I'd ever trust one of you," he replied coldly. However, he seemed to agree with what Smith had said. Even if we didn't agree with putting our lives at risk, we didn't have much choice in the matter. Without another word, we all started back for the hotel. The walk back was uneventful; Mizuki following shortly behind me without uttering a single word the entire way.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Once inside the hotel again, I let out a breath. I was completely exhausted. I had started the day in anything but optimal health, but now I was even worse off then when I woke up. I stumbled along to the stairs past the reception desk, slowly making my way up. On the second floor was a hallway full of hotel rooms, each with a nameplate affixed to them. The nameplates seemed to be additions to the normal doors, as the colored strips below them only noted the hotel room's number. The nameplates themselves held only two pieces of useful information; a small picture, which was supposed to be a representation of the student who's room it was, and a name.

Walking down the hallway, I found my name affixed to the door all the way at the far end of the hallway. The nameplate read "Keiichi Satou", with a rather inaccurate drawing of me. Underneath the nameplate was the hotel number on a red strip: "#13" 

Only four people remained in the hallway: Mizuki, Kazuki, Takada, and myself. Mizuki gave me her usual concerned look. I gave her a reassuring nod, but I assumed it wasn't very convincing, as she still came over to my door. Her room seemed to be the one opposite mine.

"If you need anything, let me know, alright? You still look terrible..." Mizuki noted.

I nodded weakly. I didn't feel like talking. I just needed to get into my room and get some sleep. Twisting the doorknob, I pushed open the door, but suddenly stopped after only getting the door open a crack.

"What's wrong?" Mizuki asked.

I instinctively covered my nose with my hand. The smell that was coming from my room was wretched. I felt my stomach churn and almost threw up, but held it in as best I could. Mizuki seemed to smell it too and covered her nose and mouth as well. Kazuki and Takada seemed to take notice and moved closer to see what was going on.

_What the hell is this smell?_ I thought. I steeled myself, one hand covering my nose, and pushed the door open the rest of the way. What I saw terrified me. 

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" I heard Mizuki scream from behind me.

Inside the room, slumped against the far wall, was a student with a knife sticking out of his chest, blood covering him and the floor around him. His glasses were broken and his clothes were a mess, covered in bright pink blood.

My eyes grew wide and I looked away instinctively. I was really feeling nauseous now, and I ran down the hallway, fearing that I would throw up all over the floor. Thankfully, I managed to hold it in, but I returned to my room panting from exhaustion.

"What the hell is this?" Takada said quietly. Both him and Kazuki were peering into the room, both with looks of bewilderment. Mizuki was sitting slumped against her door with a look of terror on her face.

Suddenly, Monokuma appeared inside the room. "What is this? Upupu, it seems that somebody decided to jump the gun, huh?"

"Ack! What the hell? How did you get in here!" I shouted.

"Don't sweat the details, kid! You've got bigger things to worry about! Don't you see the dead guy swimming in his own blood over there!" Monokuma shouted. "You really should be worried about who did all that!"

Takada was taken aback. "You mean, you didn't do that?" he asked.

Monokuma jumped on top of the bed. "Of course not! Why would I need to do anything when I've got you bastards to do it for me? It must've been one of you guys who killed him!" he shouted with joy.

"N-no way..." Mizuki whispered.

"Hmmm...." Monokuma said, clearly thinking about something. "Well, unfortunately the fun's going to have to wait. Things aren't quite ready yet, so whoever did this is going to get a free pass! Unfortunately, they're going to have to try again later, but I'm really surprised! I didn't think you guys would be this eager to murder!" Monokuma said.

The four of us were silent. Kazuki had his eyes closed and seemed to be thinking about something. Takada was staring intently into the room at the dead guy, as was I. 

The dead corpse didn't look like anyone I had met today. He looked just like a student, but who exactly was this guy? And even more importantly, who killed him? Was Monokuma really telling the truth? Was one of us the one who murdered him?

"Anyways, you can't sleep in here tonight! I can't clear it out right now, so you'll have to wait until tomorrow, so go bunk with someone else!" Monokuma shouted, disappearing once again.

A moment of silence pervaded through the hallway. Everyone else seemed to be asleep in their rooms, giving the hallway an empty and creepy mood. The four of us stood in silence, too shocked to say anything.

The one who broke the silence was Mizuki. "Y-you can sleep in my room, if you want," she said softly.

"What? Are you really okay with that?" Takada replied.

Mizuki nodded. "I have no problems with that either," I said.

"Then it's settled. We should all head to bed," Kazuki said. "Everyone else is probably already asleep, so it would be better to just tell them in the morning."

Takada seemed to hesitate for a moment before reluctantly agreeing. He and Kazuki headed off down the hallway and entered their respective rooms. 

Mizuki seemed to be still a bit shaken up by the sudden appearance of that body, and she was walking as if she was disoriented. I helped Mizuki into her own room as best as I could. The room itself was fairly small, with not much inside of it. A single bed with pink sheets sat against the right wall next to a darkwood desk. Some writing utensils and paper were placed on the desk, but nothing else was noteworthy. There was a small fan, spinning calmly above the bed. On the other side of the room was a rather large flat screen TV standing on a small bookshelf, with a small sofa against the opposite wall. The bathroom sat to the left the entrance, which seemed to have all of the necessities: a shower, toilet, sink, and a square mirror cabinet.

Mizuki headed over to her bed and removed the pink comforter. She turned and handed it to me, motioning over to the sofa. "You can sleep there if you want," she said quietly. It seemed that she was still freaked out by the body we found. I simply nodded in response. She tossed one of her two pillows onto the sofa and climbed into the bed, still with all of her clothes still on.

Suddenly, the monitor in the room crackled to life, and Monokuma showed on the screen. He appeared to be in some kind of office, with a large wooden desk in front of him. "Attention all students! It is now 10:00 p.m.! Nighttime is officially in effect, and access to certain areas will now be restricted! Sweet dreams everyone!" he announced. The monitor flickered off again, and the room was silent again.

I proceeded to follow Mizuki's example, too tired to try and do anything but flop down onto the sofa and go to sleep. However, sleep did not come.

Minutes passed like seconds, and I couldn't stop thinking about the body in my room. _What the hell is a body doing in my room?_ I thought. Was one of us really the killer? Who was the dead student in my room? Why are we even here in the first place? Thoughts ran through my head like lightning, and I couldn't stop them.

I finally decided to take another look at the body. Something nagging at the back of my mind urged me on, telling me that at least taking another look was necessary. I slowly got up from the sofa and proceeded to the door, careful not to wake up Mizuki.

Upon re-entering the hallway, I was surprised to find Kazuki standing in front of my room, looking in through the open door. "Kazuki? What is it?" I asked.

He looked back over his shoulder for a moment, before walking off down the hallway again. "It's nothing," was all he said.

I decided to ignore him and take another look at the body to satisfy my racing thoughts. Peering through the open door, I could clearly see the bloody scene. The guy was still slumped against the wall, blood flooding the space on the floor around him. His glasses were cracked and sitting a foot away from him in the blood. His clothes were ragged and messy, as was his hair. His eyes were still open, most likely from the shock of being stabbed with the knife. 

It was a gruesome scene, but something was off. I couldn't stop staring at the body, simply because I had a strange feeling that something was odd. Looking over the body carefully again, I noticed what was bugging me. The knife that had been stabbed into the body's chest was now gone, leaving only a bloody wound in its place.

_Where did that knife go?_ I asked myself. I had sworn that there was a knife sticking out of the dead student's chest when I first saw it, but now it was nowhere to be found. _Did somebody take the knife out of his chest?_ I asked myself.

Then I came to a sudden realization. Somebody else had just examined this body as well. _Did Kazuki come back to take the knife?_ I asked myself.

Unsure, I peered back down the hallway, but found no one there. Suddenly, My head started to hurt, and I started shivering. It appeared that my condition wasn't as great as I made it out to be. The brief waves of pain that I had felt at the start of this day now came back. Deciding to leave the body behind, I re-entered the hallway, closing the door to my room behind me.

Even more paranoid than I was when I left, I returned to Mizuki's room and fell back onto the couch. It was now completely clear to me. I was not at Hope's Peak, not at home, and not anywhere safe. Here, on this island, murder was a reality and Monokuma's word was law. Although my thoughts were still racing, my body's exhaustion pushed my mind off to sleep. Somewhere deep within me, I still clung to a small shred of hope. Hope that I would wake up from this nightmare back at home, cold sweat dripping down my neck. But that hope would soon be crushed just as quickly as it had come.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

**16 STUDENTS REMAIN**


	4. Chapter 1: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing - Part I - Daily Life

"Hey, over here!" a voice called out to me.

Surprised, I turned to see that the voice had come from Eiko, who was enthusiastically waving over at me, standing with a bag of food in her other hand. She was taking a seat at a table across from Yosuke, who was smiling and motioning for me to come over as well.

"Keiichi, hey! Are you awake?" Yosuke shouted to me.

I blinked and tried to clear my head. "W-what? Oh, yeah. I'm awake, hold on a second!" I yelled back.

I walked over and took a seat next to Eiko, who proceeded to open her bag and pass out some of the food she had brought to me and Yosuke.

"So, how are things going for you, Mr. 'Super Duper Bad Luck'?" Yosuke teased.

Eiko smacked him on the head with the loaf of bread she was holding, and gave him a look of disapproval.

Yosuke grinned and rubbed his head. "Hey, what was that for? It's true and you know it!" he said, laughing.

"Yeah, things are alright. Besides, you guys should know; it's not like things are any easier for me than it is for you guys anyway," I responded.

Eiko smiled. "Yeah, we know that," she said. "However, I'd keep your guard up if I were you." 

Yosuke nodded in agreement. "What do you mean? What do I have to worry about now?" I asked.

Yosuke waved his hand in front of him. "It's really nothing, you shouldn't have to worry about it for long, anyway." He paused. "But, rumors have been getting around about something big happening amongst the reserve students."

"S-something big?" I asked. "Is this about that whole **student council incident**?"

Eiko nodded. "It seems so. No definitive evidence has come up yet, but I would at least be careful."

Yosuke swallowed the part of his sandwich that he was eating. "Realistically, I'm more worried about the student council than the reserve students doing something. Those guys just don't know when to quit," he said.

Eiko nodded. "Especially aft-

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I jolted up from the sofa suddenly, throwing off my balance and crashing to the floor. Tangled up in the pink comforter Mizuki had given me, I struggled to get free and stand up. When I finally did free myself, I stood in thought for a long moment.

_What was that?_ I thought to myself, still puzzled by the dream I had just had. Although it was at a place I had never been to before, it was incredibly realistic for just a dream. I had woken up before Eiko had finished her sentence, but the rest of the conversation was clearly imprinted into my mind.

It was then that I realized that I was alone in the room. Taking a quick glance around, I realized that Mizuki was nowhere to be found; her bed was made and as immaculate as it was when she went into it. The same could not be said for the sofa, whose cushions were now either on the floor or pulled out of their original positions. _Where did Mizuki-_

Abruptly cutting off my thoughts, the monitor in the room crackled to life. On the screen again was Monokuma, in what I presumed to be his office headquarters. With a glass of something in his hand, he began to speak. "Attention all students! It is now 7:00 a.m., and as such, Nighttime is officially over! Please enjoy your stay, and make the most out of today!" he shouted gleefully, before the monitor returned to its inactive state.

I sighed. I was still on this island, and Monokuma was still around to order me around, it seemed. Not that I had been expecting very much to happen in just one night. I had pretty much all but given up hope that this was just a nightmare that I'd wake up from soon. Stretching out my arms and legs, I tiredly decided to head out of the room and look around for Mizuki. Surely she'd have an idea of what to do.

Upon opening the door, I heard a loud thud and then something hitting the ground. Opening the door the rest of the way, I saw Mizuki, clutching her head and sitting on the ground. "H-hey, what was that for?" she asked.

"S-sorry, Mizuki! I didn't know you were on the other side of the door!" I said, frantically climbing down next to her to help her up.

She sighed. "Well, that doesn't matter anyway," she replied. "It's good that you're awake though, I was just coming by to get you."

"Why? What do you need me for?" I asked.

"I was told to come get everyone at the hotel and bring them to the cafe," she replied. "It seems that Shawn wants to have a meeting of sorts over there."

"A meeting?" I asked. But really what surprised me the most was the fact that Shawn was the one who called for it. I could've sworn that just yesterday he said he wanted nothing to do with any of us.

Mizuki sighed. "You'll see when you get there," she replied. Grabbing me by the arm, she started pulling me out of the hotel. And with that, Mizuki and I headed out of the hotel and towards the cafe.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"It's about time you showed up, Keiichi," Shawn remarked. He was standing impatiently in front of the counter with his arms crossed.

"Awww, no fair! How come Keiicchan got to sleep in!" Hazuki cried, lazily lying face down on one of the tables.

I laughed awkwardly before Mizuki pulled me over towards the table which Eiko and Ichijo were sitting at.

Looking around the cafe, I could see that everyone was already here. Sitting at one table together were Hazuki, Ryouko and Yuki, while Smith and Kurami sat at another table with Takada. Unsurprisingly, K and Kazuki were leaning against the wall by themselves. Lars and Yosuke were each sitting alone at their respective tables. The only one I couldn't necessarily see was Hanako, but from the noise coming from the kitchen I could assume that she was here as well.

Shawn sighed. "Now that everyone seems to be here, we can start this meeting." He cleared his throat. "I'm sure that you all remember what that bear said yesterday, correct?"

"H-he said we have to stay here... for the rest of our lives..." Yuki responded.

"Damn that stupid bear, why do we have to listen to him anyway?" Ryouko grumbled.

"He's crazy if he thinks that we're actually going to try and kill each other!" Lars shouted.

"It also seems that he's ready to execute any of us if we try to defy him and break the rules," Smith noted.

"That was my next topic. He also said that we have access to a device called the 'e-Handbook', which contains all of the rules of this twisted game," Shawn said, pulling a small black tablet out of his pocket. "I suggest you take a look at them if you haven't already."

I reached into my own pocket and, sure enough, there was a tablet device in there. I turned it on, and the first thing to display on the screen was my name in capital white letters, " **KEIICHI SATOU** ". The menu that appeared next had several more features available, such as a map of the island and some information on all of the other students. 

I scrolled down to find the section titled "Rules and Regulations", and opened it. The screen changed and displayed each of the rules of this 'Island Life of Mutual Killing':

**1\. Any violent actions against the headmaster are strictly prohibited. This includes both the security cameras and monitors scattered throughout the island.**  
 **2\. Sleeping is only allowed in the designated hotel rooms. Anyone caught violating this rule will be punished accordingly.**  
 **3\. The period of time from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. shall be designated as "Nighttime". During this time, access to certain areas of the island will be restricted.**  
 **4\. Any student who successfully murders one of his classmates and gets away with it will graduate, and be allowed to leave the island.**  
 **5\. Once a body has been discovered by at least three people, a "Body Discovery Announcement" will be made throughout the island.**  
 **6\. After a murder has been committed, failure to identify the culprit will be considered a violation of the rules, and all students except for the culprit will be punished.**  
 **7\. You are free to explore any and all areas that you can access. Your investigations in this regard will not be restricted.**  
 **8\. Additional rules may be added at the headmaster's discretion.**

I looked up from the screen to see the rest of the students doing the same.

"As you can clearly see, this bear is not messing around. What that bear said yesterday was the truth. We are trapped on this island with only one way out; murder someone else to escape," Shawn said.

Silence fell over the room. If anyone had any delusions of this being a dream or a prank, they were forced to believe now. These rules made it clear that they were now subject to the whim of a crazed teddy bear and the threat of murder.

Mizuki broke the silence. "So, what are we supposed to do about this?" she asked.

"It's not like we can get rid of that bastard, we already tried that yesterday," Takada added.

"First things first, we should set up some rules of our own," Shawn said.

"M-more rules...?" Yuki asked timidly.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ryouko shouted.

Shawn raised his hand to quiet her. "Calm down, these rules are for our benefit. Since there's a chance someone might actually believe that crazy bear and murder someone, we should all agree to meet here at this cafe every morning, to ensure that no one is dead," he said.

"Stop saying that! No one is going to murder anybody!" Yosuke shouted.

"If you keep closing your eyes to the possibility, you'll be the first to go," Shawn replied coldly.

"Hey, screw you! Yosuke's right! We're not gonna kill anybody!" Kurami shouted.

"Would you please just shut up and let me finish!? There is more that we have to discuss," Shawn stated impatiently. "It's regarding that 'Nighttime' rule."

"You are referring to the time from 10:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., correct?" Eiko asked.

"Right. I propose that during that time no one is to leave their respective hotel rooms. Especially since that bastard Monokuma has all of the room keys, the threat of death looming over us all night is not going to help us sleep," Shawn said.

"That seems favorable to everyone," Eiko said.

"Yeah, I couldn't really sleep that well last night since I was so worried about somethin' happening," Ryouko said, rubbing her eyes.

"Hold on, isn't that a bit pointless?" Kurami suddenly called out.

Shawn raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? Are you trying to say that we don't need to sleep?" he asked, annoyed.

Kurami sighed. "No, of course not. But the fact is that we have no way to enforce that rule. Anyone could just go walking around after 10:00 p.m. whether you want them to or not," she replied.

"We don't really have a choice," Ichijo responded. He didn't avert his gaze from a spot far off in the distance. "We'll just have to trust in each other, and have faith that everyone will follow the mutual rules."

Kurami put her hand on her cheek and slumped over her table. "I guess so. I don't really like it, but it's not like we can do much about it anyway," she said with a tired expression.

Shawn crossed his arms again. "Then it's settled. We shall have a meeting every morning here at this cafe, and no one is allowed to leave their hotel rooms during Nighttime." He paused. "Now, let us discuss some of our findings from yesterday. Surely there should be something useful on this island to help us escape."

"Hmph. From where do you believe that you have been granted authority over the rest of us?" K asked.

"She does have a point, you know. Since when did we elect you leader?" Takada remarked.

"What are you talking about? Do you really think that I'd leave my life in the hands of one of you?" Shawn replied, seemingly thumbing his nose at us.

"Hey screw you! You think you're so much better than everyone else? You're trapped here just as much as we are, you know that!?" Ryouko shouted, leaving her chair and taking a step towards Shawn.

"Hmph. I see no need to explain myself to someone like you," Shawn said with disinterest.

"Hey! Stop being a stupid jerkface!" Hazuki yelled out, standing up and pointing an obviously harmless finger straight at Shawn.

"You better watch it, or you're going to get my fist right in your face!" Ryouko shouted, balling up her fist and pulling it back, ready to unload it into Shawn.

Ichijo stood up from his chair. "Stop! Fighting and arguing like this isn't helping! This is exactly what Monokuma wants us to do! We have no chance of surviving if we don't work together!" he shouted.

It was a sudden and unexpected outburst from the usually brief and quiet Ichijo. His words seemed to sink in, as Ryouko and Hazuki reluctantly sat back down and the tension in the cafe returned to normal. Shawn fixed his jacket and crossed his arms again, clearing his throat in the process.

"Anyway, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, we need to discuss our findings from yesterday," Shawn stated.

Hanako chimed in from the kitchen. "This cafe is stocked with all kinds of foods and cooking materials! Monokuma showed up before and assured me that we won't have to worry about running out of food or anything!" she yelled.

"At least we won't have to worry about starving or anything," Mizuki noted.

"How about that hotel? Anyone find anything interesting in there?" Lars asked.

Smith spoke up. "The hotel rooms themselves have all of the necessary items for comfortable living, including bathrooms."

"They're also completely sound-proof! I tried yelling over to Smith in his room, but he couldn't hear me at all," Kurami added.

"They also have nameplates affixed to the doors already, so we won't have to worry about finding out who which room belongs to," I said.

"I happened to notice that there appears to be a laundry room of some type beyond the lobby on the first floor. It appears that we will not have to worry about maintaining the cleanliness of our clothes," Eiko noted.

"Moving on, what about the gun shop farther down the road?" Shawn asked.

"That store's got an amazing supply of all kinds of guns!" Ryouko shouted. "But there isn't any ammo in there, so they're just for show."

"B-but there were also s-some s-supplies in the back that m-maybe we could use..." Yuki added, clutching her stuffed puppy tightly.

Ichijo spoke next. "The library between the gun shop and this cafe is enormous, and it has an amazing stock of books. If we can't find anything useful in there, we'll at least have a huge selection to read from," he said.

"Oooh, but the most important place is that beach! We could tooootally use that for a super-duper-awesome beach party!" Hazuki shouted, jumping up and down in her chair.

"She's right! There's a beach on the other side of the island, and there is already some beach stuff just lying around that we could use!" Kurami added, pumping her fist in the air in excitement.

"Enough with the fun and games, this is serious!" Shawn shouted. "What about that tower in the middle of the island?"

Lars sat up in his chair. "I checked that place out, but there wasn't anything interesting up there. All I could get from that place was that there was more islands around."

"Yeah, like that central island," Mizuki said.

"The forum there seems to be the only thing of note," Kazuki briefly remarked.

"Anything else?" Shawn asked.

Everyone seemed to be thinking when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see that it was Mizuki, who seemed to be trying to tell me something. It was then that the image of the dead student we found in my room last night resurfaced in my mind.

"A-actually, there is one thing..." I said, unsure.

"What is it?" Shawn asked impatiently.

I swallowed hard. "Last night, we discovered that there was a... dead student in my room."

Several gasps were heard. "W-what? Who was it?" Kurami asked, looking around frantically.

"Calm down, all sixteen of us are right here," Shawn noted.

"But then who was it?" Lars asked.

"He's not someone that we met yesterday, that's for sure. I would have remembered what he looked like if I had just met him," Mizuki added.

"There's something else," I said. "Monokuma showed up and told us that the one who killed him was... well, one of us."

Everyone was silent. The tense atmosphere from the forum had returned, and everyone glared around with an eye of suspicion once again. Although we only had the word of the insane teddy bear Monokuma to go off of, we were still quick to suspect that the killer could be among us.

"H-he's gotta be lyin'!" Ryouko shouted, obviously trying to deny what she actually believed. "T-there's no way somebody killed already!"

"S-she's right!" Yosuke added, trying to cling to her words as a last resort. "Monokuma's just trying to mess with us!"

"How can you be so sure of that?" Shawn suddenly asked. "He hasn't lied to us so far, as far as I can tell."

"Are you suggesting that you think one of us is a murderer?" Mizuki asked.

"I'm not suggesting anything. I'm saying that perhaps you should heed my advice and stop deluding yourselves," Shawn replied. "Not everyone here may be as unwilling to kill as you."

"Hmph. Your words are wise, for one such as you. Perhaps you might enlighten us as to who you think this killer is, then?" K asked.

Shawn sighed. "Any one of us could have done something like that. The rooms were all unlocked and we all came back around the same time." He paused. "Besides, we don't even know when he was killed. Everyone was investigating for the entire day, so he could have been killed by anyone at any time during the day." His words were immediately followed by a tense silence. Although we all outwardly professed that we had faith and trust in each other, it was only taking one suggestion by Monokuma to tear that fake comraderie apart. 

Ryouko suddenly stood up, forcefully grabbing Yuki's arm in the process. "Me and Yuki are leaving, right now! If one of you is a murderer, you're not gonna kill her or me!" she shouted, as she made her way quickly out of the cafe.

"W-wait! We don't know for sure if-" I pleaded, to no avail.

"Make no mistake, ignorant one. Among us lies a wolf in sheep's clothing. I have felt that disturbance ever since I arrived on this island," K stated. "It would do you well to protect yourself from this demon before it is too late," she said, making her way out of the cafe silently behind Ryouko and Yuki.

With suspicion spreading like wildfire, most of the students systematically made their way out of the cafe. In the end, the only people who stayed behind were the four of us at our table; Mizuki, Eiko, Ichijo, myself, and surprisingly, Shawn.

"Idiots, the lot of them," Shawn said under his breath.

"This isn't good, not at all. At this rate, maybe one of us really will end up dead," Ichijo said solemnly.

Eiko put her hand on his shoulder. "I believe that things will work themselves out, given enough time. It is difficult for one to trust those that they have just met."

I stood up and silently walked over to Shawn. "What the hell was that for? Are you trying to make things worse!?" I shouted.

Shawn smirked at me. "Hmph, like you're doing anything to make it better," he said, tauntingly.

I grabbed him by the collar and pulled my hand back into a fist, ready to punch him square in the face.

"Stop it! This isn't helping our situation and you know it!" Mizuki shouted, holding my arm back. With gritted teeth, I reluctantly let him down.

"Look, I don't like how this turned out either. But you're not going to be able to keep things together by blinding yourselves to the possibility of murder," Shawn said. "The threat is real, and if we don't face it head-on, somebody will end up dead."

As much as I wanted to punch him, he made a good point. Just pretending that no one was going to try and kill someone wasn't going to solve our problems. Trying to ignore the threat of death staring us in the face was only going to get someone killed.

"But being suspicious of everyone else is just as dangerous," Mizuki said.

Eiko stood up from her chair. "As I said before, trust will build over time between us. All we have to do is give everyone a chance to get acquainted, that is all."

I sighed. Perhaps she was right. Just before, we had seemed like a cooperative group of students, trying to find a way off this island. Maybe if we got to know each other better, we could cooperate against Monokuma, instead of against ourselves.

Eiko and Ichijo exited the cafe silently, only waving goodbye to Mizuki and myself. Mizuki then took her leave as well, heading off down the road back towards the hotel. The feeling of being alone after having her accompany me all throughout yesterday was strange. Shawn began to move towards the door, but stopped just before the entrance and turned to face me.

"Meet me at the forum on the central island later. There's something I think I should tell you," he said with a serious expression. With that, he disappeared out of the cafe.

I let out a sigh and sat back down in one of the chairs. Not only had we found out nothing useful through our meeting, but now everyone was even more paranoid and suspicious than before. Perhaps their fears were justified, and one of us really was a murderer. But who? Not one of them seemed like a murderer, although a few of them were quite strange, to say the least. 

Suddenly, the image of the student's dead body came back into my mind, and one thought became prevalent. That knife was still missing. Remembering my suspicions from last night, I remembered that Kazuki was the last one to see that body before me. _Could he be the murderer?_ I thought.

_No, thinking like that isn't going to help_ I told myself. We needed to trust each other if we were going to make it off this island. WIth that thought in mind, I decided to go talk to someone to take my mind off of everything that had just happened.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wandering around the island, I found myself at the beach area. I was walking along the shore, trying to avoid getting my shoes wet by the incoming waves. To my surprise, I noticed Takada laying down on one of the beach chairs, his hat pulled down over his eyes once again. I decided that now was as good a time as any to find out what his deal was.

Upon reaching the chair he was laying in, I attempted to get his attention. "Hey, Takada!" I shouted.

He didn't stir from his position. I shouted again, but still no response. I wasn't sure whether he was sleeping, ignoring me, or perhaps even worse... I decided to take drastic measures, flipping the chair and sending Takada sprawling onto the sandy beach.

"Hey, what the hell was that for?" Takada shouted. "I was only messing with you!" He stood up and roughly wiped the sand off of his clothes.

"S-sorry, I guess I just couldn't take a hint..." I replied.

Takada sighed. "Anyways, what did you want?" he asked impatiently.

"I just wanted to ask you about something," I responded. "It's about when we first met in the library."

Takada tensed up. "You're talking about what I said to you then, right?" he asked.

I nodded in response. He seemed to relax a bit, pulling his hat down over his eyes once again. "What's there to talk about? I said what I meant and I meant what I said," he said suddenly. "Nothing more, nothing less."

"But what did you mean? Why do you want me to stay out of your way?" I asked. "Are you... planning something?"

Takada looked up at me, his fierce gaze fixated on my eyes. He took a step closer to me and stopped. "Let's get things straight right now. I don't trust anyone here for a second, alright? Never did and I never will."

"W-what are you saying? Why don't you trust anyone?" I asked, confused by his sudden proclamation.

Takada sighed. "I can't. That's just who I am," he replied. "My whole life, that's the rule I've lived by." He took a step back. "Can't get stabbed in the back if you don't entrust your back to anybody. Besides, I'm not going to just wait around while one of you guys plot to kill me."

"N-no one here is planning a murder! You're just paranoid!" I pleaded.

Takada didn't seem to listen, and simply turned and faced his back towards me. "And I'm sure as hell not going to let someone else get off this island before me," he said, looking over his shoulder. "If I gotta kill someone to get off this island, then I guess that's what I'll do." Without saying another word, Takada walked across the beach and out under the rock archway.

"Damn it!" I shouted, kicking sand into the air with my shoe. _Was he being serious? There's no way he'd actually kill somebody, right?_ I asked myself, trying to reassure myself that nothing would happen.

But I remembered that something already did happen. There was a dead student lying in a pool of blood within my hotel room. And if Monokuma was to be believed, then one of us was his murderer. Living confined on an island with a murderer was a frightening thought, but just as Shawn had said earlier, trying to ignore the possibility was simply inviting death.

With even more thoughts and worries on my mind than before, I looked up into the sky. It seemed to be somewhere around midday, with the sun high in the sky. I suddenly remembered Shawn's parting words from back at the cafe. _Perhaps he's waiting at the forum for me right now_ I thought. I started off towards the central island without another word.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yuki pulled her sleeves over her hands again, making sure to keep a tight grip on Coco this time, so that he wouldn't fall onto the ground and get all dirty. She was really more worried about the water in the fountain in the center of the library courtyard, but getting dirt on Coco was just as bad.

As she was worrying about keeping Coco clean, she noticed someone approaching. Almost instinctively, her big sister Ryouko unconsciously took a step towards her, putting herself between Yuki and the person approaching.

"Heeeeyyy! Kiri-chan and Yuki-chan! It's me, Hazuki!" the artist yelled, approaching almost in a full sprint. She almost ran right into Ryouko and she had to put her hands out in front of her just to keep herself out of the fountain. "Whoops! Sorry about that Kiri-chan!" she shouted.

"H-hey there, Hazuki! Mind watchin' where you're running next time?" Ryouko asked, laughing.

Hazuki giggled cheerfully. Yuki had only known her for a day, but Hazuki always seemed to be really energetic and happy; with the exception of the morning, of course, when she seemed to be dead tired.

"W-why did you come over here, H-Hazuki?" Yuki asked. "A-aren't you w-worried about the m-murderer?"

Hazuki laughed again and made a face at her. "Of course not, silly Yuki-chan! Why would I be worried about that? There's absolutely, positively, no way that Kiri-chan or Yuki-chan could be a murderer!" she shouted joyfully.

"How are you so sure of that?" Ryouko asked.

Hazuki put her hands on her head and started making some weird 'thinking noises'. "Because Yuki-chan and Kiri-chan are my friends! There's noooo way that they could do something like that!" she shouted gleefully. "Besides, you don't think I'm a murderer either, right?" she asked.

"O-of course n-not!" Yuki shouted automatically in response. "T-there's n-n-no way you're a m-murderer!"

Ryouko put her hand on Yuki's shoulder and gave her a reassuring look. "I think you're alright, too," she said.

Hazuki giggled once again before putting her hands into the fountain. "Come on! Let's play!" she shouted, throwing water out of the fountain at Yuki and Ryouko.

"Ack!" Yuki shouted, turning her back to the fountain to keep Coco from getting wet. Of course, she wanted to go play too, but keeping Coco clean was her number one priority.

Suddenly, Ryouko's hand shot down to where Yuki was, open and waiting expectantly. Yuki looked up at her sister and nodded. If there was anyone she could entrust Coco to, it was Ryouko. No matter what happened, Ryouko cared too much about Yuki to let anything happen to her or Coco. 

Giving Coco over to Ryouko, Yuki excitedly ran over to the fountain and started throwing water back at Hazuki. Ryouko simply stood and watched with a smile on her face while the two other girls laughed and played together. She wanted for things to stay like this as long as possible. But her gut was telling her differently. 

She couldn't shake this bad feeling that she had about this whole situation, and she couldn't help but believe that one of them was a murderer. What kind of big sister would she be if she didn't protect Yuki from someone like that? She knew that if something were to happen, she wouldn't let anything happen to her little sister; no matter what the cost.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The sun had drifted closer towards the horizon by the time I showed up at the forum on the central island. Making my way towards the platform in the middle, I noticed Shawn sitting down on the stone steps, looking off into the distance. He seemed to notice me enter the forum, and he nodded in acknowledgement. In fact, I was fairly surprised that he did, seeing as how our first interaction started with him ignoring my very existence.

I took a seat next to him on the stone steps and tried to see if I could find what he was looking at, but all I could see were trees and the sun far off in the distance. I turned towards him and asked, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Shawn closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. "I wanted to apologize," he said calmly.

_I wasn't expecting that_ , I thought. "What are you apologizing for?" I asked.

"For everything. My bad attitude, what happened at the forum yesterday, and what happened at the cafe this morning," Shawn replied. "I just want to set things straight with someone at the very least."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Shawn took a deep breath. "I was already on edge when I got here, to be honest. I have... someone that I care about back home and being alone without them is... stressful, to say the least." He paused. "Not only that, but when I get stressed, I instinctively push people away and act like a jerk," he said. "It's really all my damn father's fault..." Shawn muttered under his breath.

I was curious. "Your father?" I asked.

Shawn sighed again, wiping his face with his hand. "Yeah, my father. He's the worst thing to ever happen to me in my life," he said, emotionless. "Even though I haven't seen him in twelve years, he still haunts every day of my goddamn life," Shawn added, gritting his teeth.

I sat in silence. What was I supposed to say to that? I had just immediately assumed that Shawn was just a mean and snobby kind of person at heart, but there seemed to be more going on behind the scenes than I thought. I was suddenly aware of the simple fact that everyone here was a person just like me; with worries, hopes, and experiences. I had started to unconsciously believe that everyone here had simply become a possible threat to my survival.

Eventually, Shawn continued. "Some people call him a prosecutor, but I don't even give him the honor of having that title. He was simply a drunk who liked to take bribes and make scandals out of important cases," he said. "The bastard was just playing with people's lives."

"Eventually, the rumors caught up with him, and he lost his job for good," Shawn said. "But that was just the beginning. Now that his name was out in the open, all of the other kids and adults traced it back to me. Every day was a living hell trying to escape my own father's reputation." He paused. "That's why I'm like that sometimes. I'm just trying to stay away from people, to avoid that pain."

Shawn looked up at me. "But in a situation like this, I don't have that luxury. We're going to have to cooperate if we want to have any chance of making it off this island alive," he said calmly. "I think we all need to take Eiko's words to heart. We need to earn each others trust before we can unite against Monokuma."

I nodded in agreement. "I think so too. With all of this suspicion floating around, there's no telling what someone might do," I replied.

Shawn stood up and sighed. "I'm glad I got to tell that to somebody," he said, stretching. "I just hope that everyone else is as accepting as you are." Shawn smiled. "Maybe we just might have a chance," he said softly, before walking off towards the first island.

I leaned back on the steps. Out of everything that had happened since I'd arrived on this island, talking with Shawn may have been the most useful thing I'd done. Although he seemed to be the one instigating all of the conflict, perhaps he was, in reality, the only one trying to prevent it in the long run.

I looked up at the sky, still bright purple and orange from the setting sun. The stars were barely visible through the vibrant colors in the sky, and I sat there in awe for a few long moments. This view really didn't suit a terrible situation like this. I could almost forget about this island and the threat of death by simply staring up at this sky forever.

But I didn't have that luxury. Soon the sun would set, and Monokuma's voice would appear on the monitors and tell us to go to sleep. We had already agreed to spend Nighttime in our hotel rooms, and the last thing I wanted to do was destroy what little trust our group had managed to keep. Still lost in thought, I slowly started to make my way back to Hotel Valetta, now clinging to a new hope that we might be able to overcome the suspicion and distrust that had formed within our little class.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I returned to the hotel just as the sun fell under the horizon. The night sky was now filled with trillions of stars and planets, shining down on me from above. Entering the hotel complex, I was greeted by no one. Most likely everyone had already gone back to their rooms to get some sleep, too paranoid to do anything but hide in their hotel rooms. Although that was also a futile effort, as the rooms themselves were unlocked, due to Monokuma's interference.

I decided to use the last remaining minutes before the Nighttime announcement exploring the rest of the hotel. Eiko had mentioned that there was a laundry room in the back of the first floor, so I headed past the reception desk in search of it.

Sure enough, along the wall on the other side of the first floor sat a door with a gold trimmed plate affixed to it. The plate prominently displayed the word " **LAUNDRY** ". Opening the door and taking a look inside, I was greeted by a seemingly ordinary laundry room. Washing machines and dryers were placed against either wall in a row, with baskets, soap, and other cleaning products on shelves in the middle of the room.

The only things that seemed extremely out of place were the two golden statues on either side of the window in the room. The statues were small knights, and their golden armor covered them from head to toe. They each held a golden spear in their hands, pointing them towards the ceiling. The statues mirrored each other on the other side of the window, with their golden masks covering up whatever expression they may have had. "These statues are just fancy decorations in a high-class hotel like this, but what are they doing in the laundry room?" I asked. Posing the question to an empty laundry room yielded no responses, unsurprisingly.

Suddenly the monitor in the laundry room crackled to life once again, with the same video feed of Monokuma sitting at a large office desk. He repeated the same announcement from last night once again. "Attention all students! It is now 10:00 p.m.! Nighttime is officially in effect, and access to certain areas will now be restricted! Sweet dreams everyone!" he announced gleefully, before the screen returned to a blank black background. _I better get to my room_ I thought.

Climbing the stairs, I did not encounter a single person. The second-floor hallway was uninhabited as well. Everyone seemed to be following the new Nighttime rule, if only to give themselves some peace of mind. Deciding to follow suit, I slowly headed off towards my room. Hotel room #13 at the end of the hallway. The room in which just last night a dead student had been inhabiting. The thought gave me a dull feeling of nausea. I didn't know for sure what to expect when I opened my door, but the lack of that distinct smell from last night reassured me.

Entering the room, it was in the same condition as last night, with the glaring exception of the corpse. It was a mirror image of Mizuki's room, with the exception of the color scheme. While everything in Mizuki's room seemed to be pink, my room seemed to have a red theme. 

Flopping down onto the bed, I laid on my back staring up at the ceiling for a long while. Despite everything that had happened, we were still no closer to getting off this island. Everyone was more suspicious and paranoid then they were yesterday. If every day turned out like this one did, things would turn ugly fast for us. My last thought before falling off to sleep was a hope that Eiko's words would come true, and fast. We needed to trust each other before we could make any other progress.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

**16 STUDENTS REMAIN**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There should be two more Daily Life parts until we get to Deadly Life. I'd be willing to add in some requested free time events, if people want them.
> 
> This part is taking MUCH longer than I thought it would, but it's getting there.


	5. Chapter 1: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing - Part II - Daily Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this part took SO long to get out, but here it is!

"Keiicchan, what do you think of this one?" Hazuki asked, shoving a piece of paper in front of me. "Looks just like Hana-chan, right? Right?" she asked, bouncing up and down with enthusiasm as she spoke.

I took a quick look down at the paper she had placed in front of me. On it was a hastily scribbled portrait of Hanako in black ink. Although the drawing itself was highly detailed and appealing, it was still far from realistic. "Aren't you supposed to be drawing it normally? And not in your regular anime style?" I asked, handing the paper back to Hazuki.

Hazuki puffed out her cheeks and angrily snatched the paper out of my hand. She took a seat next to me and started furiously drawing on the other side of the paper, looking up to observe Hanako every few seconds.

Hanako was busy looking at something through a microscope, while she occasionally looked at the monitor nearby and scribbled some notes on a notepad she had on the table in front of her. Hazuki and I simply had nothing to do at the time, so we decided to observe Hanako with whatever she was doing.

"Hey, Hanako, mind if I ask what you're up to?" I asked, genuinely curious and utterly bored..

Hanako looked up from the microscope and rubbed her eyes before glancing over at me. "I'm running some more tests on those samples the school collected," she replied. "I'm sure that there's something in here that can lead us to whoever did the crime."

"You mean that what you're looking at is **evidence from that incident**?" I asked. It wouldn't be too strange for the school to call on the help of a forensic scientist for something like this. Besides, the academy would probably want to keep this whole incident contained within the school itself.

"Yeah. The staff took a look at most of this stuff yesterday," Hanako responded. "I'm just taking a second look to see if there was anything that they missed."

"Find anything interesting?" I asked. Hazuki had pushed her paper back in front of me, this time with a more crude but more realistic drawing of Hanako looking through a microscope. I also noticed that she had taken the liberty of adding me into the drawing, with eyes looking in different directions and drool coming out of my open mouth. She stuck her tongue out at me when I looked back at her. _What did I do?_ I thought.

Hanako sighed. "No, unfortunately. It seems that we know just as much as we did yesterday," she said. "Whoever did this must have been able to cover their tracks pretty well."

Hazuki suddenly looked up from her drawing and made more of her 'thinking noises'. "Do you think that maaaaybe that **creeeepy organization** is behind it Hana-chan?" she asked, chewing on the end of the pen she was holding.

I turned in my chair to face Hazuki. "Are you talking about-

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My eyes were suddenly flooded with an influx of light. I blinked in a futile attempt to get my eyes open fully. The sun was shining in brightly from the window on the far side of the room, lighting up the entire room. It was only a second before I managed to sit up in my bed and heard the familiar Monokuma morning announcement on the monitor. From his office throne, Monokuma announced, "Attention all students! It is now 7:00 a.m., and as such, Nighttime is officially over! Please enjoy your stay, and make the most out of today!"

I put my left hand up to my head. _Another one of those strange dreams_ , I thought. The details were still a bit hazy, but it seemed like Hanako was investigating some incident. Hazuki had mentioned some kind of organization, but I couldn't remember what the organization was. The dream was surprisingly realistic, for something that my mind had conjured up most likely due to my exhaustion.

Still groggy, I slid out of bed and changed into a fresh set of clothes. Lucky for me, it seemed that Monokuma had prepared additional sets of clothes for us to wear, all of which were folded and stored neatly away in the closet.

Stepping out of my room and into the second-floor hallway, I happened to notice that one of the doors in the hallway was slightly ajar. It was on the other end of the hallway, two doors in from the end. I moved quietly towards the door, careful not to make too much noise. I could hear voices faintly from the inside of the room, but they were too quiet for me to make out what they were saying.

Once I was close enough, I realized that the open door belonged to Ichijo. Above the green number 6 was as a nameplate displaying the name " **Ichijo Yuzaki** " along with a miniature picture of him, in what I now realized to be some kind of game sprite graphic.

Peering inside through the small opening between the door and the wall, I could see Ichijo, standing in the middle of the room, straightening out his black tie around his collar. He seemed to be talking to someone else, but I couldn't see who it was.

"I don't think that this was a good idea. Keeping secrets like this will only hurt us in the long run," Ichijo said to the other person.

"I am sorry, but I must strongly advise you not to reveal this to everyone else," a voice that I recognized as Eiko's voice responded.

_Eiko? What's she doing in Ichijo's room? And what are they talking about?_ I wondered. I moved slightly closer to the door in an attempt to get a closer look.

Ichijo sighed. "I won't lie to them. That will just make things worse. Once the time is right, I'm going to tell them," he said, turning towards the door.

With Ichijo suddenly approaching the door, I moved quickly down the stairs and into the Laundry room hallway, careful to stay out of view. Ichijo came down the stairs followed by Eiko, who then proceeded to take the lead and exit the hotel, walking off towards the cafe. Luckily for me, neither of them so much as glanced towards the area behind the reception desk.

I took a step out into the lobby. _What were they talking about?_ I wondered. It sounded like Ichijo and Eiko were keeping something a secret from the rest of us, but what was it? With those thoughts on my mind, I headed off towards the cafe for the normal morning meeting.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When I arrived at the cafe, I was immediately reminded of the events that had transpired here yesterday. Everyone was much more spread out this morning as compared to yesterday, more than likely because of the fear of the murderer that supposedly hid among us. 

The members of the tables themselves remained mostly the same: Hazuki, Ryouko, and Yuki were sitting together at a table in the corner of the room; Eiko, Ichijo, and Mizuki were sitting together in the center table once again, this time joined by Hanako; and finally Smith and Kurami sat together on the other side of the room. Takada now sat by himself, as did Lars and Yosuke. K and Kazuki were still standing in their usual spots, leaning against the wall. And, just as I had predicted, Shawn was standing in front of the counter once again, crossing his arms and waiting expectantly. I took a seat at the table across from Yosuke, who didn't seem to mind.

Shawn sighed. "Now that everyone is here, we can begin our meeting," he proclaimed.

"Actually, there's something we should do first," Hanako interrupted.

Shawn looked over at Hanako with a confused expression. "What is it?" he asked.

Hanako stood up from her chair and made her way behind the counter, disappearing into the kitchen. After a short while, in which sounds of things falling and being moved around were heard, Hanako returned, holding several large trays of food in her hands.

"We should eat breakfast first, before we do anything else," Hanako said with a smile. "Yesterday everyone ran out before I had a chance to finish making anything, so I woke up extra early today to prepare this stuff!"

Hanako set the trays of food down on the counter and went back into the kitchen, presumably to bring out the rest of the food. The smell coming from the trays was alluring, and my stomach instinctively grumbled. Hanako seemed to have made several types of breakfast items, everything from eggs and bacon to french toast and waffles. But what astounded me most was the sheer amount of food on the trays themselves. _Did she really make all this today?_ I thought.

"Thank you sooooooo much Hana-chan..." Hazuki said sleepily, making her way over to the counter. "I'm sooooooo hungry..." She finally reached the table and began lazily moving the food onto a plate.

Shawn shook his head. "Fine, whatever. We do have to eat sometime..." he said unenthusiastically.

Everyone took the opportunity to take some food of their own and return to their respective tables. Surprisingly, even K and Kazuki took some food with them and began eating, still leaning against the wall.

I took some food for myself and sat back down at the table across from Yosuke. Before I started eating, I took a look around the room. Despite the suspicion that still surrounded us, the room was temporarily free of tension. I saw Ryouko and Yuki desperately trying to keep Hazuki from falling asleep and landing face-first in her plate of food. Smith and Kurami seemed to be trying to see who could finish their food faster. Mizuki, Eiko, and Hanako seemed to be having a pleasant conversation, with Ichijo commenting every now and then. The rest of the bunch wasn't as lively, but they still proceeded to eat their food, although it was in silence.

After looking around for a few minutes, I suddenly became aware of Lars, who seemed to be motioning for me to come over to his table. Unsure, I cautiously brought my plate over to where he was sitting and took a seat next to him.

Lars came close to me and spoke very softly. "Hey, Keiichi. I got a **proposal** for you, if you're interested," he whispered.

I was definitely skeptical, but I thought I should at least hear what he had to say. "What kind of proposal?" I asked.

Lars grinned. "Come meet me in the hotel lobby tonight," he whispered, looking around carefully.

"For what? What is this proposal even about?" I asked, careful not to speak too loud.

Lars shook his head. "You'll see when you show up," he replied, leaning back in his chair and stuffing his face with food. Before I could press him for more information, Shawn spoke up.

"Does anyone have anything new to report?" he said suddenly, causing everyone to jerk their heads to face him. No one said anything. It seemed apparent that they were not going to find anything else useful on this island anytime soon. They were simply stuck there, biding their time while the tension built up between them over the threat of murder.

Shawn sighed. "I figured as much." He paused. "Alright then, I guess the only thing we can do is wait it out and try to get along," he said solemnly.

The rest of the breakfast passed uneventfully, with the exception of Hazuki dropping an entire tray of food on her way back to her table. After they had finished eating, most of the students had left the cafe, and now I was alone at my table. I finished my food and looked around to see that the only who was still around was Hanako, taking people's empty plates and trays to the kitchen. I decided to give her a hand, hoping to strike up some conversation in the meanwhile.

"Need a hand?" I asked, bringing my own plate into the kitchen.

Hanako looked up from the plate she was cleaning. "Oh, sure. There are a lot of plates to clean, so I'd appreciate your help," she said, handing me another plate.

Hanako and I cleaned plates in the sink for a few minutes, neither of us saying a word. I tried to think of something to talk about, and settled onto the topic of food. Hanako seemed to be really into cooking, which had me curious.

"The food you made was really good! How did you learn to cook so well?" I asked.

Hanako seemed to be caught off guard by the sudden question, but quickly rebounded. "Thanks! I used to cook all the time for my family, and now that I live by myself, I do all the cooking," she said, smiling at me.

"You live by yourself? But you're still in high school, aren't you?" I asked.

Hanako picked up another plate and poured a generous amount of soap onto it. "Yeah, I am. I wanted to move somewhere closer to where I was working and going to school for forensics," she said, scrubbing a persistent piece of food off of the plate. "My family lives pretty far away from any big cities, so in order to pursue my forensics career, I had to move out eventually. I just decided that I should do it sooner rather than later."

I was surprised. Not only was Hanako a fully-fledged forensic scientist, but she also took care of herself, despite still being in high school. "Do you miss living at home with your family?" I asked.

Hanako looked up at the ceiling. "Hmm, I don't really like to think about it all that much," she responded. "I've got someone who's... counting on me, so I really can't afford to think about going home before I've accomplished something."

"But haven't you accomplished something already? Being known as the Super High School Level Forensic Scientist isn't something you get easily, you know," I replied.

Hanako pushed her glasses back up. "I guess. But... there's something more important that I have to do before I can return home," she replied, staring intently into her reflection in a clean plate.

I was definitely curious, but I had a feeling that whatever it was, it was something personal. We spent the rest of the morning cleaning the kitchen, without making much in the way of conversation. After we had finished, I parted ways with Hanako and left in search of someone else to spend some time with.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Just as I had hoped, I found K in her usual position; leaning against the wooden fence that surrounded the island. She was staring off into the distance, her scarf and hair flowing behind her. If there was anyone that I needed to get to know better, it was K. Not only did she seriously consider killing me the first time we met, but I couldn't understand anything that she said.

I approached K cautiously, making sure to try and avoid catching her off guard, which would inevitably end terribly for me. To my surprise, I made it all the way to the fence post next to her without her giving me a warning, or acknowledging me at all, really.

"Hey there, K," I said nervously.

K turned her head to face me, her stare much more subdued and less piercing than the first time we met. "Ah, it's only you, Keiichi," she responded.

"What do you mean, 'it's only me'?" I asked.

K laughed and took the lollipop she was sucking on out of her mouth. It was green this time, and I assumed it was some kind of watermelon or green apple flavor. "I was worried for but a moment that I may have underestimated the power level of whoever was approaching my position. But it's fairly obvious that the threat you pose to an agent of my caliber is insignificant," she replied, putting the lollipop back into her mouth.

I frowned. "Well, of course it is. I'm not trying to kill you or anything."

"Hmph. Even still, someone like me can never lower their guard, lest the demons of the past return to seek retribution," K said, looking back out towards the sea. 

After a few seconds of silence, K spoke up once again. "You surely approached me with a certain motivation in mind, correct?" she asked.

I scratched the back of my neck. "Not really, to be honest. I just want to talk to you," I replied. "You know, get to know you better. We are classmates, after all."

K smiled. "Very well, I shall entertain your efforts. Ask me whatever you wish. However, choose wisely, as the consequences of any sensitive inquiries shall be your swift death," she said, looking almost ready to pounce at me.

My throat clenched up, and my palms started to get a bit sweaty, but I took a deep breath and tried to keep my composure. I had a distinct feeling that she wouldn't kill me anyway, but standing only a few feet away from her was nerve-wracking, to say the least. She definitely had a dangerous aura, and I felt that there was experience and conviction behind her threats.

I decided on an innocent question that had been on my mind since the first time I met K. "What is the deal with the lollipops?" I asked, pointing to the small plastic stick in K's mouth.

K gave me a confused look, before taking the green lollipop out of her mouth once again. "Hmph. You are far more perceptive than you let on," she replied, staring intently into my eyes. "Perhaps I underestimated your true abilities."

"W-what are you talking about?" I asked, once again clueless as to what K was even talking about.

K put the lollipop back into her mouth and crossed her arms before speaking. "You have quite the eye for detail if you recognized that these are not mere lollipops, but in fact **deadly weapons**."

"W-what? Weapons? You mean that lollipop is a weapon?" I asked, taken by surprise.

K laughed again. "I am no inferior agent. My talents and skills are unsurpassed by anyone in the world. I'm insulted to hear that you place so little faith in my preparation," K said. "Of course it is a weapon. The lollipops that I make contain a dangerous amount of a **highly-lethal poison**."

"P-poison!? But, you're putting them in your mouth! Are you crazy or something?" I shouted, half-inclined to run over and pull the lollipop out of her mouth.

"This is nothing. For an agent of my caliber, this amount of poison is child's play," K said, pulling the lollipop out of her mouth. "But for a simple civilian such as yourself, this lollipop would easily spell the end for you."

I was surely surprised and worried by the revelation that these lollipops were actually made with poison, but what surprised me perhaps even more was the realization that K was the one who made them. "Hold on, you're the one who made those lollipops?" I asked.

K froze for a second before shoving her hand into one of her pockets. Pulling her hand out, I could see that she had a handful of lollipops, all individually wrapped with different colors and designs. "I must personally create and maintain all of my tools, to ensure their reliability in a life-or-death situation," she said.

Suddenly, K put all but one of the lollipops back into her pocket and extended the remaining one towards me. It was a cherry flavored lollipop with a cute little panda design as a wrapper. "Here, you may safely consume this one," she said. "On rare occasions, to occupy my preparation time, I make a small amount of normal lollipops." She paused. "O-obviously in order to have some prepared in case they are needed during a mission!" She stammered, blushing slightly.

I took the lollipop from her and put it away in my pocket. I was still a bit wary to try and put it in my mouth, but I would surely at least open it at some point later on. "Thanks, K."

K only turned and faced back out towards the sea. For some reason, she seemed to be thinking intensely about something, her brow furrowed. "Hey, K. Is there something on your mind?" I asked, moving over to the fence.

K raised her hand to stop me from approaching, but kept her gaze fixed on the sea. "You would be wise to refrain from interfering with my concentration. I don't think I have to remind you what the punishment will be if you do," she said, reaching her hand down to her leg.

I took a step back quickly. It seemed that she was ready to end our conversation. "Y-yeah, sure! I know, of course! I'll... get out of your way then, I guess," I said pivoting on my foot and starting to walk away.

"Keiichi, wait," K suddenly said, turning around from the fence. I turned back to see her staring at me once again. "If you ever want to... get to know me better... again, feel free to approach me," she stated, turning her face away from me. "If you don't, I'll have to exact Ares's judgement of death upon you," she said emotionless, reaching for her leg again.

I wasn't exactly sure if it was supposed to be a bluff, as I couldn't make out any sort of weapon attached to her leg, but I decided to not risk my life. I smiled and waved back to K, making my way away from the cliff and towards the Library, in the hopes of finding someone else to talk to.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Smith stood patiently at the bridge entrance on the central island. He had been waiting patiently for a while now, keeping track of the time. It was a tedious and slow process, but Smith didn't mind. It was a welcome change of pace for him.

Finally, Kurami passed him for the seemingly hundredth time and jogged over to where Smith was standing, taking the water bottle from his hand.

"That last lap was just as fast as the first one, maybe faster," Smith said, looking at Kurami admiringly. "I've never seen someone run that many laps and still have enough energy to keep up the same pace all the way through."

Kurami gulped down the water bottle as fast as she could. "*pant* Thanks... *pant*" She replied in between heavy breathing.

"Are you sure you're alright? You're breathing pretty heavily, you know," Smith asked, giving Kurami a concerned look.

Kurami returned the gesture with a reassuring smile. "*pant* I'm fine... *pant* just need a little air, that's all... *pant*"

Smith relaxed a bit. Kurami was only human. Although, where any other runner would have been dead from exhaustion at this point, she was simply out of breath. _She really is amazing_ , Smith thought.

"Do you mind if I ask you something?" Smith asked suddenly.

Kurami was caught off guard by the question, but happily replied, "Sure, what is it?" 

"Why do you enjoy running?" Smith asked, crossing his arms and waiting patiently for a reply.

After a long moment of thinking, Kurami wiped the sweat off of her forehead and sighed. "I guess it's just an escape for me. You know, a way for me to forget everything that's buggin' me," she finally answered.

"What do you mean?" Smith asked, curious.

Kurami sighed again. "Whenever things are getting me down or making me mad, I just run. It calms me down and helps me put all of that stuff outta my head for a while."

"Hmm..." Smith hummed, clearly thinking about her response. It seemed that he was right about her from the start. Kurami was definitely someone he wanted to get to know better. No, _needed_ to get to know better.

Kurami stood in silence, watching Smith organize his thoughts in his head. After a few long moments, Kurami spoke up with a question of her own. "Well, how about you? You like blacksmithing?" she asked.

Smith snapped back to reality and blinked a few times before responding. "Of course I do. Ever since my father started teaching me the trade back when I was little, I've had a passion for blacksmithing," he replied, scratching his chin.

"Your father was a blacksmith too?" Kurami asked.

Smith nodded. "He was a strong, dedicated man. He taught me almost everything I know. I enjoy blacksmithing more than anything, but I guess you could say that I'm also doing it to be as strong as him one day."

Kurami looked down at the ground. She herself seemed to be lost in her own thoughts as well. She had been right on the money about Smith, it seemed. Just as she thought, he was definitely someone she needed to learn more about.

"Alright, that's enough resting," Kurami said, stretching her arms above her head.

Smith's eyes widened. "You're not planning on running more laps, are you?" he asked in disbelief.

Kurami smiled back at him. "Of course I am! How am I supposed to stay calm about all this if I don't run! Weren't you even listening to me before?" she shouted, already jogging off down the pathway.

Smith sighed. It seemed that he would have to wait until she tired herself out before he could ask her anything else. If she could ever tire herself out, that is. From what Smith had just witnessed, it was probably going to take a while for her to finally take a break from her running. He leaned back on one of the bridge's posts and closed his eyes. _If I'm going to have to wait for her to finish, I might as well use my time wisely and get some rest_ , he thought.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Upon entering the library, I immediately became aware of the two people relaxing in the middle of the enormous room. Unsurprisingly, those two people happened to be Eiko and Ichijo. They seemed to be glued to this place, for some reason. Whenever they weren't at the hotel or the cafe, they were here. What they did when they were here was beyond me, but I could only assume that they were looking through all the books in this immense collection.

I decided that they were as good as anyone else to hang out with for a while, even if talking about books wasn't really my thing. Besides, I was hoping that talking to them would reveal something about that secret that Ichijo and Eiko were talking about this morning. I didn't want to bring up the topic myself, but any information I could get out of them might give me a hint as to what secret they were hiding.

Eiko was the first to notice me approach, looking up from her book and giving me a warm smile. "Hello Mr. Satou. What brings you here?" she asked. Her voice caught Ichijo's attention, making him jump and look around frantically. It seemed that he had been fast asleep.

I took a seat at the table they were sitting at. "Nothing in particular. Just looking for someone to talk to and pass some time, I guess," I replied, taking a look at the book Eiko had open in front of her. The words on the pages looked very strange, and I just assumed that they were in some foreign language that I couldn't read.

Eiko sensed my eyes on the book and lifted it up to show me the cover. Once again, I couldn't read what it said, and the rest of the cover was just a plain red background. "What are you reading?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Detective fiction, of course. It is my preferred genre," Eiko responded, putting the book back down onto the table. "Locked-room mysteries to be more precise."

"Locked-room mysteries?" I asked. I had definitely heard of the concept before, but I had never actually read a book that dealt with one before.

Eiko nodded. "A crime that occurs in a seemingly impossible place under impossible circumstances," she started, her eyes glowing. "A murder in a locked room with the key still inside. A situation where no culprit could have entered or left. A truly impossible scenario." Eiko paused. "And yet, all of the essential clues to solve this impossible situation are provided to a careful reader, allowing they themselves to become the detective and solve the mystery."

"Interesting; I didn't initially see you as a would-be detective," Ichijo said suddenly, staring off into the depths of the library in front of him.

Eiko smiled. "It's more of an intelligence exercise than an aspiration, I assure you."

"So what about the one you're reading right now?" I asked, pointing at the open book on the table in front of her. "Any ideas on how to solve that one?"

Eiko looked down at the book. "The author seems to have taken extreme care to craft a complex and engaging story filled with distractions and red-herrings. I believe that I can safely rule out any sort of cheap trick, such as an external mechanism, secret passage, or duplicated key."

I looked up in thought. "How else would they be able to get out of a locked room then?" I asked, returning my gaze onto Eiko.

Ichijo chimed in. "Perhaps they used a much more simple method, such as sleight of hand with the key, or pretending that the door was locked upon discovery?" he proposed.

Eiko shook her head. "The detective in this case has already considered and ruled out any of those possibilities," she replied. "The trick in this case is going to be something that is hidden in plain sight. Some kind of oversight that the reader would make; thus leading them to a false assumption."

"Like what? I don't really see any other way for someone to create a perfect-locked room without doing something like that," I stated.

"Consider the fact that the killer is almost always among the cast that either discovered or is investigating the crime scene. Evidence that may seem genuine may have been planted by the killer, such as planting the key inside the room after the crime has been discovered. Or perhaps there is some sort of time illusion that the killer is using to manipulate the detective's perception of events," Eiko replied.

Ichijo waved his hand in front of him, as if to dismiss Eiko's claims. "I think you're reading too much into it. The author probably wants you to think something along those lines, just so that the final climax is even more shocking."

Eiko frowned. "Well, I guess we shall have to wait until the solution is revealed in order to know for sure who is right, won't we?" she said, glaring at Ichijo with determination.

Ichijo laughed. "You get so worked up over those books all the time. I don't really get it at all," he said, leaning back in his chair.

"You don't like to read books?" I asked, curious. _If he doesn't, then why does he spend so much time here at the library of all places?_ I wondered.

"W-well, I... yeah... a little bit I guess," Ichijo responded, uncomfortably shifting in his chair. He seemed to be avoiding Eiko's gaze on him for some reason. "I'm here b-because it's a quiet place to think, alright?" he said quickly, blushing a bit.

Eiko smirked at him. "Sure it is," she replied tauntingly, returning her focus back to me. "What about you, Mr. Satou?" she asked.

I was silent for a moment, still trying to figure out why she kept calling me 'Mr. Satou'. "I guess you could say I like to read. I mean, I won't pass up a good book, but I won't exactly go looking for one either," I responded honestly. "Besides, I'm more of an action guy myself."

Eiko nodded. She looked back down at her book, while at the same time Ichijo closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair once again.

I then suddenly remembered my conversation with Lars from this morning. _Crap, I totally forgot about his 'proposal'!_ I thought. I quickly jumped to my feet and looked out of the library window. The sun had set considerably since I had entered the library, and I panicked for a moment.

I spun around and gave a short wave over to Eiko and Ichijo. "Sorry, I've got plans with someone right now, so I'll be heading out now!" I shouted, turning and heading for the door without waiting for a response. Pushing the heavy doors open in front of me, I started off towards the hotel at a brisk pace, hoping that I wasn't too late to meet Lars to hear this 'proposal'.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I was surprised to find that the hotel lobby was empty; not a single person was to be found in the dimly lit room. The silence that pervaded the hotel seemed to support the idea that no one was around at all. 

I sighed. _I must have just missed him or something_ , I thought. Thinking back on it, though, he never did give me an exact time. How did he ever expect me to show up on time when I didn't know when it was?

Suddenly, my thoughts were abruptly cut off by a creaking sound. I quickly turned and looked toward the source of the noise, which seemed to be coming from the second floor. The stairs were empty, but urged me on, almost guiding me and telling me to ascend them. Obliging their request, I hastily made my way up the stairs to the hotel rooms, eager to find out what that sound was.

Coming out at the top of the stairs, I noticed that one door in the hallway was open. It was one of the doors toward the other end of the hall from my door, but it was on the same side as my room. Peering inside, I came across Lars, looking around the room, but unaware of my presence. I sighed again in relief, which seemed to be just loud enough for Lars to jerk his head around to face me. His eyes grew wide for a moment, before a smirk became prevalent on his face.

"Heh, you showed up!" Lars said enthusiastically, inviting me into the room with his hand. I willingly obliged, still wondering what Lars was doing. It soon crossed my mind that this whole 'proposal' business could simply be Lars's version of a joke; a joke which I now would find myself naively apart of. However, Lars seemed serious enough for now.

I decided to press the issue and at last get some answers from Lars about this 'proposal'. "So, what exactly is this 'proposal' you were talking about this morning?" I asked, curiously peering about the room. The room seemed eerily similar to Mizuki's room, with the bed sheets and the curtains dyed bright pink. In fact, the entire room seemed to be quite feminine, with drawings of cats and guy characters plastered randomly on the walls. _This sure is an... interesting room design; not sure if it fits you, Lars,_ I thought.

Lars's grin grew a bit, and he took a step towards me. "Right, the 'proposal'. That's right, I got a great proposal for you. Glad to know you're interested," he replied, laughing quietly at the end of his sentence.

Lars wasn't someone that gave off any vibes of being malicious or scheming, but the way he had said his response made me feel a bit uneasy. He didn't seem like he was trying to pull anything, as the door behind me was still wide open. Whatever weird 'proposal' he had, my gut told me that it wasn't going to be anything dangerous, at least to me. Although my gut said that, my brain and better judgement were screaming for me to turn around and bolt off towards the cafe before he could do anything. Torn between my gut and my brain, I ultimately stayed planted in place, not able to make any decision at all.

Lars didn't seem to share my indecisiveness. He walked over to the door behind me, looked around suspiciously, and closed the door completely. Now in the room completely with the door closed, alone with Lars, I began to regret not trusting my mind's better judgement.

Lars came back into the center of the room and faced me. The stupid grin he had on his face hadn't gone away, but he now looked less malicious, and more juvenile. "Alright, listen," he began. "This 'proposal' I was talking about, it has to do with-"

Lars suddenly stopped mid-sentence, his eyes wide, staring past me to the door. I didn't turn around, and was about to ask Lars why he stopped before he raised a hand indicating for me to be quiet. I strained my ears to listen, and I realized what Lars had stopped for. Outside of the room, I could hear several voices talking loudly; all of which belonged to the girls. 

As the voices grew louder, seemingly getting closer to the door, Lars panicked. He suddenly ran over to the closet in the corner of the room and threw the doors open. Running back over to where I was standing, he grabbed me by the arm and pulled me towards the closet. Before I could say anything in protest or surprise, Lars had me all the way in front of the closet and was actively trying to keep me quiet. "Shhhh! They'll hear us!" he whispered forcefully.

Pulling me inside along with him, Lars and I entered the closet, closing the doors in front of us. The closet was dark, with the solid doors in front of us blocking out any of the artificial lighting in the room. However, in the dark, I could still clearly see the wardrobe that was inside. It was most certainly a set of clothes a girl would wear. Unless Lars was that kind of guy, it left only one possibility, which considering the circumstances, would make things start to make a bit of sense. This room was not Lars's room, but one of the girls' rooms. This also meant that now Lars and I were actively hiding in this room, unbeknownst to the girls, who entered the room shortly after we had entered the closet. I was beginning to piece together this whole 'proposal', and it was now clear to me that I was going to unwillingly get wrapped in something that I wanted absolutely nothing to do with.

Now stuck in the closet with no way to see into the room, Lars and I both pressed our heads up against the door, intent on listening in on what was going on in the room. I tried again to ask Lars what was going on, but he raised his hand again to silence me, still with that stupid grin on his face. I sighed again and instead focused my efforts on listening to the girls' conversation inside the room.

"So so so! What do you think of my room? Cute right?" an energetic and loud voice that could have only belonged to Hazuki asked.

"Hell yeah! I'm loving the decorating style!" Ryouko shouted out in response.

"That certainly is an... interesting way of looking at it..." Mizuki responded.

"Well, I'm soooo glad that all of you decided to come to the slumber party!" Hazuki declared, and promptly flopped onto the bed.

"I-I guess Eiko and K aren't coming..." Yuki stated quietly.

"Aw, who cares about those two! We can still have loads of fun without 'em!" Kurami replied jubilantly.

"That's right!" Hazuki shouted, jumping up back onto the floor. "Hana-chan, what's that you got there?" she asked suddenly, sounding child-like.

"W-what do you mean?" Hanako said, uncharacteristically off-guard.

"It's a cute little teddy bear! Aww, can I see him? Can I see him? Please please please, Hana-chan?" Hazuki asked impatiently, jumping up and down in excitement.

"O-oh, um, yeah, s-sure you can..." Hanako replied uncomfortably.

"I didn't expect you to be such a kid, Hanako," Kurami said mockingly.

"S-shut up! I-it's not like that!" Hanako replied defensively.

"Sure it isn't. I'm sure you're just holding on to Mr. Bear here for someone else, right?" Ryouko joined in, snatching the stuffed bear from Hazuki.

"His name is Teddie!" Hanako shouted, before snatching the bear back from Ryouko. "I-I mean... um..."

Hazuki laughed and jumped on Hazuki, putting her arm around her. "It's alright, Hana-chan!" she shouted, the rest of the girls laughing with her.

It was quite strange hearing Hanako like this, when she usually seemed so sophisticated and composed. I guess she, just like anyone else, had another side to her as well. I wouldn't have ever guessed that she'd be childish on the inside, since on the outset she seemed extremely mature. Lost in thought, I wasn't listening for a few seconds, and my mind suddenly snapped back into focus on the voices in the room.

I could hear Hazuki laughing non-stop, but I couldn't tell exactly what she was laughing at. There was a constant shifting noise, like someone rolling around in a bed, but I didn't know for sure what exactly it was.

"So, Mizuki, what about you?" Kurami asked. "You seemed awfully friendly with Keiichi the other day..." she said tauntingly.

"W-what? I-I... no... I-I mean..." Mizuki stuttered, her face getting red.

"You totally like him, don't you?" Kurami continued, grinning and giggling while Mizuki looked away, her face getting hot.

Inside the closet, for the first time, I became personally invested in listening in to the conversation. Initially, I was simply listening to them in order to wait for an opportunity to escape the room before Lars and I were discovered. But now, I was listening intently to the girls' discussion. _As wrong as this whole situation is, I just have to know!_ I thought.

"W-well, it's not... that I don't like him... I guess..." Mizuki said quietly, the other girls giggling in response.

It was here that my mind returned to focus on the constant noise of fabric shifting. Hazuki was still giggling, and for some reason, my mind focused intently on that sound.

"H-hey, Hazuki... what are you doing?" Yuki asked timidly.

All eyes turned towards Hazuki, who in actuality, was wrapped up completely in her bed sheets, turning and rolling over on the floor. All that was visible was her head, but something else on the ground made the rest of the girls panic.

Mizuki was the first to notice. "H-Hazuki! Why are your pajamas on the floor?" she asked, hastily rushing over to Hazuki.

"You're... not..." Ryouko trailed off, her eyes wide.

With this situation unfolding on the other side of a single set of doors, Lars's eyes grew wide and he pushed even harder against the door. I myself, unfortunately, shared his same motivation. If what we were hearing through the door was indeed true, then we had to at least give it a try. Lars gave me a quick glance, to which I responded with a small nod. Carefully, he reached up and grabbed the doorknob, turning it slowly and silently. The door was now open just a tiny bit, and a small sliver of light passed through the opening between the closet doors. We could see that there was a mess of blankets and covers on the ground in a pile, with Mizuki and Ryouko standing over it. Near their feet was a set of pajamas, scattered about on the ground.

"Why did you take them off Hazuki!" Mizuki shouted, frantically trying to collect the clothing.

"Duh, Miki-chan! I always sleep naked! It's much more comfortable that way!" Hazuki shouted gleefully, rolling around and giggling.

"AAH! Go back under the covers Hazuki! And put your pajamas on!" Mizuki shouted.

Lars and I leaned forward even more, trying to catch even the faintest glimpse. However, this would be our downfall. 

Lars, trying to lean in just a bit more, accidentally pushed his foot against mine. With very little room to maneuver around in the closet, my leg fell forward, sending me pushing against Lars. Lars, pushing against the door, was thrown out into the room, landing flat on his face. I fell forwards as well, landing on top of him; both of us now clearly visible to all of the girls in the room. Their eyes went wide, faces red, and Lars and I prepared for the worst.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Hanako screamed, smacking me in the face with her free hand. It was a powerful blow; Hanako didn't seem to have held back after being startled like that. The rest of the girls shouted as well, throwing pillows at us in response.

"What the hell are you guys doing!?" Kurami shouted, carefully aiming a pillow straight for Lars's head. Lars was covering his head with his arms, and I was carefully positioning myself behind Lars in order to deflect some of the punishment that was sure to come our way.

Luckily for us, however, Ryouko quickly ran over and grabbed us both by our collars and dragged us out of the room. Our efforts were extinguished, with Mizuki desperately keeping Hazuki under her bedsheets and blocking our view. Throwing us out into the hallway, with insults and shouts being thrown out of the room with us, Ryouko quickly slammed the door in front of us after shaking her head disapprovingly.

I sighed. We were lucky that Ryouko had thrown us out of there; I really wasn't looking forward to Kurami kicking me or the rest of the girls taking turns slapping me. The smack I had gotten from Hanako still stung, and I rubbed it with my hand.

Lars stood up from the floor, still with that stupid grin plastered onto his face. "Hehe! I told you it was a great proposal!" he said enthusiastically, offering me a hand. "We were so close! I could almost see it!"

Refusing to grab his hand, I stood up and without another word, headed past Lars and back to my room. Ignoring him calling out to me, I proceeded into my room and shut the door behind me.

I flopped onto the bed, feeling both the physical pain of Hanako's slap and the emotional pain of not only getting totally pulled into something stupid by Lars, but also the guilt of getting invested in listening in on the girls' sleepover. _I can't believe that I let myself get involved in that,_ I thought to myself. Silently beating myself up over it, I rolled around a bit in my bed before drifting off to sleep, not even bothering to wait for Monokuma's Nighttime announcement.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

**16 STUDENTS REMAIN**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A murder will be occurring next chapter, so look forward to that!


	6. Chapter 1: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing - Part III - Daily Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! Sorry it took so long!

"W-what..?" I whispered unconsciously. What I was currently looking at made no sense. It shouldn't be happening. No, it _couldn't_ be happening. **He** shouldn't be here.

He looked back at me with an expression that held as much confusion as I had. He kept the gun he was holding trained on me, but he looked as if he was deep in thought.

"Y-you're... still alive?" I asked in a quiet voice, still unsure of whether or not what I was seeing was real or not.

His expression hardened and his eyes stared into mine with intensity. He was concentrating intensely on me in order to make sure he would be aware of any slight movements I might make. He said nothing in response; he simply stood there motionless, his eyes glaring at me while his mind processed everything in the meantime.

"H-how... how are you..." I started, simply spitting out whatever thoughts came to mind. That wasn't very surprising, considering the circumstances. All of my previous desires and motivations had now been overturned in a single instant. I didn't know what to say, what to do, what to believe; I didn't know anything at all.

He didn't seem to have any answers for me. "Why are you here?" he asked suddenly, his gun still trained on my head.

I thought of a million things to say in that instant, but none of them seemed to fit the situation. Nothing I could think of could ever possibly fit this situation. This was a situation which I, for a long time, thought could never possibly occur.

"We should be asking you the same question," Eiko said, suddenly making me aware of her presence next to me. In my stunned and confused state, I had forgotten that she was here with us at all.

His eyes suddenly went wide as he seemed to come to some sort of realization. Keeping his gun and his eyes focused on me and Eiko, he took one hand off the gun and reached into his pocket. Pulling out what seemed to be a photograph, he quickly flicked his wrist towards us, sending the picture across the gap between us and onto the ground in front of me. It had landed upside-down, so I had to slowly bend down and pick it up to see what the content of the photo actually was.

When I turned the picture over, what I saw completely changed everything.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I jolted up from my deep sleep, quickly realizing that I was, for some odd reason, laying down on the floor of my hotel room tangled up in my bed sheets. I shook my head and wiped my face with my hands. Ever since I'd come to this island, I'd been having these strange dreams every night. But this dream was different from the others. They all seemed to look realistic, but this one _felt_ real. I had felt the intensity of the situation; my heartbeat was still racing from being held at gunpoint. _I guess that makes sense, considering the kind of situation I'm in right now_ , I thought. _It isn't strange to think that the stress is giving me nightmares._

I stood up slowly and threw the sheets back onto the bed. I was covered in sweat, most likely from the intensity of the dream. I didn't feel like going out all sweaty, so I made my way over to the bathroom to take a shower before I headed out.

Heading into the bathroom, I lazily turned the shower on and began to pull my shirt off. However, I stopped halfway through taking it off. There was no water flowing from the shower head. _What the...?_ I thought. The water was running yesterday, and I had never had any problems with the plumbing in my room before. _Just my luck, huh_ , I thought.

"As _hilariously_ ironic as that would be, the truth is that you're just a bit early!" a lighthearted voice shouted from behind me.

"Ack!" I responded, startled. Spinning around quickly, I turned to see Monokuma, standing on top of the toilet, giggling at me. "What the hell do you want?" I asked, annoyed.

Monokuma jumped down from the toilet. "Aww, don't be like that Keiichi! I just came by to inform you about the water, but I guess you don't want my help," he said, turning and slowly dragging himself towards the door.

"W-wait. What's the deal with the water?" I asked. As much as I knew that he was roping me into this, it couldn't hurt to hear him out, could it? Maybe what he said might be useful later on.

Monokuma turned around to face me again. "Upupu! That's the spirit, Keiichi! Gotta let your curiosity roam free sometimes!" He walked over to the shower and turned the knob again. "Here, I'll show you!" he shouted, before disappearing from my sight.

Before I had a chance to ask anything else, a noise rang out. It was the familiar theme for the morning Monokuma announcement. I peeked out of my door and looked over at the monitor. Sure enough, Monokuma was seated at that desk again, some kind of drink in hand. "Attention all students! It is now 7:00 a.m., and as such, Nighttime is officially over! Please enjoy your stay, and make the most out of today!" he shouted gleefully. The screen returned to its normal black background and I turned and headed back into the bathroom.

To my surprise, the shower was now running fine once again. The water poured out furiously from the shower head, and I had to quickly turn the knob down to keep the floor from getting soaked. "I told ya, didn't I?" Monokuma stated, seemingly back into my bathroom. "You were just a little hasty in getting all _undressed_ and _wet_!" he said, suddenly sweating.

Ignoring his immature remark, I pressed him for more information. "You mean you turn the showers on and off?" I asked.

Monokuma spun around once. "Yep! You got it! I pay attention to everything in this place, even the water! Not just the showers, but the sinks too! I make sure to turn them all off at **10:00p.m.** and keep them off until Nighttime ends!"

I frowned. _That seems really inconvenient for us_ , I thought. Before I could say anything else, however, Monokuma suddenly walked up close to me and whispered softly, "Good job, by the way! I see you've got some adventurous spirit in ya!" With that, Monokuma disappeared again, leaving behind only the echo of his childish laughter.

I sighed. I didn't need him to comment on the adventure I had last night. I was already beating myself up over it enough already. I headed into the shower, trying to get everything off my mind and prepare myself for what today might hold for me.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Hey, Keiichan! Over here!" Hazuki shouted, while enthusiastically waving over to me from the corner of the cafe. Looking around, I noticed that the scene in the cafe was much different from yesterday. In the corner of the room, two tables were almost full of people; at one of them sat Ryouko, Yuki, Hazuki, and Lars, and at the other sat Mizuki, Hanako, and Kurami. Eiko and Ichijo sat alone at a table towards the center of the cafe, while Smith sat at a table across from Yosuke on the other side of the room. K and Kazuki were actually sitting at a table together today, in contrast to their usual positions leaning against the wall. The only loner of today's meeting seemed to be Takada, lazily reclining in one of the chairs in the back of the cafe at a table by himself. Shawn was, of course, in his usual position; arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed, leaning up against the front of the counter. He always seemed to be 'business first', and today was no exception. It seems that he had been waiting for me to arrive so that we could begin the meeting.

I hesitantly took the open seat at the table where Mizuki, Hanako, and Kurami were sitting. I was preparing myself for the worst when I finished sitting down, but to my surprise, the three girls at the table didn't seem to be hostile towards me and Lars, despite what had transpired last night. I sighed in relief, and looked up to see Mizuki smiling at me and passing over a plate of food that Hanako had brought out from the kitchen. This meal smelled just as amazing as the one from yesterday, and my stomach grumbled in response upon receiving the plate.

I glanced over at the table next to me, where Lars and the other three girls were sitting. Lars was grinning like an idiot again, leaning back in his chair. The girls were laughing and eating their breakfast, seemingly uninterested in Lars and me. He noticed me looking over and turned to face me. "Things look like they are going to turn out just fine for us, don'tcha think?" he whispered.

I was slightly inclined to agree, with all of the girls seemingly uninterested in getting revenge on us. But I wasn't completely sure. Maybe this would turn out like all of the slice-of-life anime usually does, where the girls pretend not to care to lure us into a trap. I couldn't be sure of whether they were going to try something like that or not; I had to be on my guard.

I didn't realize that I was making a particularly determined face, and Mizuki waved her hand in front of me to get my attention. I blinked and shook my head, turning down to my food and shoving a mouthful in to occupy myself. It was then that Shawn cleared his throat.

"All right, before I get onto the main topic, let me ask again: did anyone come across anything new yesterday?" Shawn asked, looking around the room for anyone willing to volunteer information. Looking around with him, no one said anything. Not that it was too surprising; our situation really had not changed since we had first shown up on the island. We were still trapped, and Monokuma was still in control of our lives. For what it was worth, however, the 'murderer' that supposedly was hiding among us had been pushed to the back of everyone's minds. Perhaps we were letting our guard down, or maybe we just decided to trust everyone as best that we could. Whatever the case, the tension and suspicion that had been cast over us was now almost completely gone.

Shawn sighed. "That's fine, I didn't really expect much in the way of new developments anyway." He stood up from his position leaning on the counter. "Then the next order of business is-"

"Hold your horses their, Mr. Lawyer! I've got something that you all need to hear before you say that!" a lighthearted, childish voice that could have only belonged to Monokuma suddenly shouted. Everyone turned to see that Monokuma was now standing on the cafe counter, walking along behind Shawn.

"W-what? What are you doing here? What do you want?" Shawn said, gradually shifting from genuinely surprised to annoyed.

"Upupupu! Well, I've got some good news for you guys!" Monokuma shouted gleefully, jumping down onto the cafe floor. "Because of some... complaints... I've been forced to revoke this old motivation of having all of the hotel rooms unlocked all of the time."

The entire room was silent. Kazuki was the one who spoke before anyone else. "You mean that you're giving us the keys to the hotel rooms, right?"

Monokuma giggled. "Thaaat's right! You bastards can sleep easy tonight with your rooms locked and protected!"

"A-are you... t-telling the truth?" Yuki asked, clutching her stuffed puppy.

"Of course! Why would I lie to you guys? It was getting pretty boring anyway, just sitting around waiting for someone to get murdered. That's why I've decided to change things up!" Monokuma replied, walking towards the cafe door.

"Wait, where are you going?" Takada asked, standing up from his chair. "You haven't even given us the keys yet."

Monokma turned around and glared at Takada, his jagged left eye lighting up red. "Hey! Don't be so impatient! Keys don't just grow out of the ground, ya know!" he shouted back at Takada. "If you want them that badly, then come to the forum on the central island at 10! I'll probably have them ready for you bastards by then!"

Turning around towards the cafe exit, Monokuma gave his parting words before leaving. "And don't be late! You guys wanted them so badly, so you better not make me wait or else!"

With that, Monokuma was gone and the room slowly returned to normal. The overall atmosphere in the cafe had lightened up a bit, as if a universal sigh had been shared by everyone. We were going to have our room keys for the first time, and would be able to sleep without having to wonder whether or not we were going to die during the night. Although, pure exhaustion had probably pulled everyone off to sleep in much the same way it had for me.

However, looking around gave the illusion that perhaps that wasn't true for everyone here. Ryouko especially looked absolutely exhausted. She was smiling and relaxed in her chair, but I had a feeling that deep down she was extremely tired. In fact, that would make a lot of sense, considering that she was with Yuki. Most likely, she and Yuki had slept in the same hotel room, with Ryouko staying up most of the time to make sure nothing happened. Of course, this was all my speculation, but it sounded like the most likely explanation to me.

"So, what was it that you were saying?" Takada asked suddenly, returning to his table. He had directed the question at Shawn, who had been interrupted by Monokuma's sudden appearance.

Shawn stared at the floor for a few moments before shaking his head and replying. "R-right. Well, actually, I don't think that will be necessary anymore, to be honest." He sighed. "In any case, this is very good news for us. Everyone is still alive and we can now sleep in peace without the fear of death looming over us all night."

The rest of us simply nodded in response. Although we were still stuck on this island with no way of communicating with the outside world, we were all still alive, had enough supplies to survive, and could now even rest without fear of being murdered. Things still looked bleak for us, but they were improving steadily.

"You know what? I think we should celebrate!" Mizuki suddenly proposed.

I was a bit confused. "Celebrate? Celebrate what?" I asked in response.

Mizuki sighed. "Our keys, you dummy. I mean, it's only the keys, but we should cherish every little victory over Monokuma, don't you think?" she replied, standing up from her chair.

Hazuki shot up from her chair enthusiastically, almost knocking over Lars, who was sitting next to her. "Oooh! We should totally celebrate by going to the beach!" she yelled out suddenly.

"Yeah! I'd love to go swimming right about now!" Kurami shouted, now seemingly fired up along with the rest of the girls. 

I glanced over at Lars, who winked at me and had that stupid grin on his face again. I sighed and shook my head, disappointed. I turned back to Mizuki and was about to decline to attend when she suddenly pointed her finger at me. "And you're going to come too! Don't even think about declining!" she shouted at me.

I opened my mouth to respond, but I was quickly cut off by the girls talking and giggling about this beach party. It seemed like I wasn't going to get out of this one. I hated the idea of getting roped into another situation like this again, but I guess I at least had the girls' permission this time.

However, what I was really worried about was that the girls were still being nice to me and Lars. For some reason, they didn't seem to be mad about last night, even though we had spied on them without their permission. In fact, I would even say that they were being even nicer than usual. To be honest, I was just waiting for what kind of punishment they were going to bring down upon us, but I was more afraid of what they would do if I didn't go like they told me to.

Mizuki smiled at me, which even more so intensified my fears, and then turned to address the rest of the students. "You are all invited to come too, so if you're interested, come to the beach at around 9:30!" She then turned back and motioned towards the rest of the girls, who proceeded to leave the cafe, giggling the whole way.

After they left, I head several sighs and grumbles from the other end of the cafe, most likely from our less social classmates quietly refusing the invitation. Lars stood up from his table and stepped towards where I was sitting, quietly thanking the heavens on the inside. He made a triumphant pose, punching his fist into the air in front of him with enthusiasm.

"You don't mind if I join you guys, right?" Yosuke asked from somewhere behind me. I turned around to see him standing slightly behind me and Lars, with Smith at his side.

I sighed. "I don't see why you'd want to, but I guess you can if you want," I replied.

Smith smirked. "You don't sound terribly excited about going, Keiichi," he said sarcastically.

"It's just a harmless beach party. What is wrong with something like that?" Yosuke responded, shoving one of his hands into his pocket.

I didn't know why I was so unenthusiastic about this party. It was somewhat of a victory, being able to make it through enough time without anyone dying and getting the keys to our hotel rooms. But for some reason, I didn't feel like it was the right time to be celebrating. I had chalked it up to my fear of whatever the girls were planning as revenge, but that was only so I could put a name to this feeling that I had. I felt like the storm wasn't over just yet, and that we should stay sheltered just a little bit longer.

"Come on, stop making that worried face! Try to enjoy yourself a little, man!" Lars said, giving me a forceful hand on my shoulder. _Maybe I'm just being a little over-dramatic_ , I thought.

Finally able to convince myself to go, I headed off to the hotel to get changed into a pair of swim trunks, conveniently prepared by Monokuma along with our other clothes. The rest of the guys split off to their own respective rooms, and we decided to simply meet up at the beach at the designated time.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Passing underneath the large natural arch formation that marked the entrance to the small beach, I walked onto the sand and quickly spotted the site of this "party". With beach toys, towels, umbrellas, and what seemed like a bar all set up in the open near the water, the assembled group seemed to have been busy setting things up.

Making my way over the the party, I quickly noticed that the girls were already busy swimming and playing around in the water, with Smith, Yosuke, and Lars standing around the area, moving stuff around and setting things up. Smith seemed to be manning the "bar", setting up some drinks and a bunch of cups along the tables.

"Ah, there you are Keiichi!" Lars shouted suddenly, jogging over to me with a set of towels in his hand. "Give me hand, will ya?" he asked, offering me half of the stack he was holding.

With no reason to refuse, I gladly took the towels from him and began putting them down onto the beach next to the ones that were already down on the sand. "The girls have us doing all the set up work?" I asked, glancing over at Yosuke, who was fixing up one of the umbrellas that had fallen over.

Yosuke smirked. "Yeah, I guess so," he said with a sigh. "Not that I'm really complaining though." He motioned with his head over towards the water where the girls were. In the water, I could see that the girls were all in their swimsuits, splashing water around and playing with a beach ball. I've never been one for fawning over girls like Lars probably does, but I couldn't deny that I was interested.

I finished putting down the last of the towels and headed over to the bar where Smith had just finished setting things up as well. Lars and Yosuke seemed to have finished up as well, and we all gathered at the bar for a moment before sharing a nod. As if on cue, we all jogged over to the water where the girls were and enthusiastically joined in.

Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves at this "party"; even Smith was smiling and having fun unusual to his stoic personality. Lars seemed to be enjoying himself the most, however, for the most obvious reasons. As much as I held a disappointed expression a him every time I locked eyes with him, I was a tad bit hypocritical. I found myself strangely attracted to Mizuki in particular, almost enchanted and entranced by her. Of course her physical attractiveness was a factor in my interest, but there was also a bizarre underlying familiarity that I felt towards her, much like the familiar scent of a home cooked meal that tells the story of a thousand dinners past. But in the same vein, I felt that she was as mysterious and unknown as a territory unexplored. It was as if I knew nothing about her, but at the same time knew deep down exactly what was there. It was this fact that excited me and made Mizuki the object of my interest throughout the party.

After a while of messing around together in the water and enjoying just the simple pleasure of having fun together like this, the party gradually moved back towards the beach, where people split up, had drinks, and made conversation. In the confusion, I found myself sitting on a group of towels with Yosuke and Hanako. Even now, Hanako seemed a bit hesitant with her swimsuit on, and she wrapped herself up in a towel.

I happened to notice Yosuke with an intense expression on his face, as if he were pondering some complex idea. "Hey, Yosuke. What's up?" I asked, curious as to what question he was thinking so intensely about.

"It's Monokuma," Yosuke replied. "I was just thinking about Monokuma."

Hanako finished drying off her glasses before responding. "What about him?" she asked.

Yosuke shifted his legs and changed position. "Well, have you guys ever heard of the three laws of robotics? You know, the three things every robot is programmed to obey?" he asked.

Hanako responded before I even had a chance to open my mouth. "A robot must never harm a human, or let a human come to harm through inaction," she started. "A robot must obey any order given by a human unless it conflicts with the first law. And lastly, a robot must protect its own existence unless doing so would conflict with the first or second laws." Hanako paused for a moment to catch her breath.

Yosuke seemed a bit surprised and didn't say anything for a few moments. "Y-yeah, exactly right," he finally spit out, giving Hanako a strange look.

"What about the three laws of robotics?" I asked, eager to get on with whatever Yosuke was thinking.

"Like I said, it's about Monokuma. He's obviously some sort of robot-machine, right?" Yosuke replied, pointing over at a monitor that was strangely attached to a post on the beach. "Then do you think he's following those laws?"

Hanako frowned. "Of course not. Those laws are just science fiction," she responded, brushing her hair over to one side. "Besides, Monokuma's already shown that he's willing and able to kill us."

The image of Monokuma suddenly exploding after Takada threw him resurfaced in my head, as if to remind me of the power Monokuma held over us. If he was willing to do that, then he would definitely have no qualms with harming any one of us.

"I already know that," Yosuke replied snobbishly. "That's what has been bugging me." He took a deep breath. "Think about it: If this Monokuma thing is a robot or something, then it has to be controlled by someone, right?"

"You're forgetting the possibility that he's controlled by an AI, you know," Hanako noted, pointing a finger lazily over in Yosuke's direction.

"There's no way he's an AI," I interjected. "I mean, the conversations he has and his responses all seem too genuine. There's no way there is an AI program that advanced."

Hanako puffed her cheeks out in response to my statement. "What do you mean!? You can't rule out the possibility that someone has developed an AI like that! Technology is getting more advanced all the time!" she shouted at me.

"Look, that's not the issue I'm talking about," Yosuke said. "The problem is that, at the very least, someone created him. Whether or not they are actively controlling him right now or not isn't the problem." He paused for a moment. "The issue is that the someone who created him could be _one of us_."

My eyes went wide, just as Hanako's did. I had obviously toyed with the idea that there was someone controlling Monokuma; some crazy evil maniac behind a monitor, laughing maniacally. But what Yosuke had just said sent a shiver up my spine momentarily. Perhaps the one who set all this up and was keeping us trapped here on the island was one of us. Perhaps that's why Monokuma was aware of everything going on and was actively responding to what was happening.

"T-that's ridiculous!" Hanako responded with a shout. "That doesn't make any sense at all! Why would the mastermind trap themselves on the island and leave themselves vulnerable to be killed! Besides, being out in the open like that might get them discovered by us, and ruin their plans!"

Yosuke put his hands up in the air in front of her, as if to calm her down. "Hey, hey, don't get so worked up over it, it was just a theory. What you're saying is probably true; I'm just trying to keep my mind open to all possibilities," he replied.

While Yosuke and Hanako went off to get more punch, I sat back and thought. While the existence of Monokuma in itself was frightening, I now had a nagging feeling of despair every time that I considered the identity of the mastermind controlling him. _Wait_ , I thought, as an idea suddenly shot into my mind.

"Hey, wait a second," I started, bringing up the topic once again to Hanako and Yosuke, who were returning and sitting down with their drinks. "Isn't there something you're overlooking?"

Yosuke furrowed his brow. "What do you mean? Something about Monokuma?" he asked in response. Hanako seemed to be just as baffled.

"Well, just think about this for a second. We, the freshman class of Hope's Peak Academy, have been brought to this remote, most likely uninhabited island, which seems to have endless resources and immense comforts. Not only that, but whoever did this is also keeping this island completely cut off from outside influence, as far as we can tell," I said, pausing every few sentences to catch my breath.

"So? What are you getting at?" Hanako interjected, eager to hear what I was thinking.

I sighed. "Do you really think one mastermind could have done all of that by themselves?"

The question hung in the air for a few moments, neither Yosuke nor Hanako willing to pull it down from where it was floating. They knew what the ultimate conclusion of this string of logic was going to be.

"I think that this whole thing is being set up by an organization of some sort. An organization with a lot of funding and influence," I stated, catching the attention of both Hanako and Yosuke.

The realization that this new truth held as much credit as our previous theories was a trade-off. Although it provided us with an alternative to suspecting one of our classmates, it in turn gave us a more menacing opponent to face. Instead of looking for one wolf hiding in sheep's clothing, we would be surrounded by wolves. The idea that some powerful organization was behind this whole ordeal weighted the whole ridiculous idea of Monokuma to something real that I was willing to accept, but no less made me afraid of just how powerful this organization could be. Or how far they were willing to go.

"You think it could be some crime syndicate like the Yakuza?" Yosuke suddenly proposed.

Hanako pushed her glasses up on her nose. "Or some kind of rich conglomerate like the Togami Group," she added.

None of us were willing to commit to either of those ideas just yet, as the prospect of being captives of either was terrifying. With the power the Yakuza could wield, there was no telling how this situation might end for us. But the money that the Togami Group could throw around would surely be dangerous for us as well. If the organization was willing to fund the purchase of an entire island and an indefinite amount of supplies, then who knows how far they would take some kind of sick experiment like this.

The silence in the air after this conversation was palpable, and the three of us wisely decided to disperse throughout the rest of the party. After a long day of talking, eating and drinking, and playing around at the beach, the students who had shown up agreed on ending the party and heading back to the hotel. It was getting fairly late now, and we were excited to get the hotel keys that Monokuma had promised. Maybe we were happy to have beaten Monokuma in some roundabout way. Or perhaps we were still so paranoid and terrified that we couldn't stand another minute without locking ourselves behind a sealed door to protect ourselves.

On my way back to Hotel Valetta, I surprisingly ran across Kazuki, who seemed to be heading for the forum on the central island. He was going to be early, but I didn't think he minded waiting much. He was the other extremely quiet person that I rarely had a chance to converse with. I think I shared at most one sentence with him since we arrived on the island.

"Hey, Kazuki!" I shouted, jogging over to where he was slowly walking along the stone path, lost deep in thought.

Kazuki didn't give an immediate response, and only showed any visible signs of recognition once I was practically on top of him. "Oh, it's you," he said quietly.

"You know, you were invited to that party. You can hang out with us too," I said, trying to encourage him. I didn't really know much about him at all, but I knew that separating from each other was not going to help build up our trust.

Kazuki's expression hardened, and he looked away from me and out toward the water. He didn't say anything for a long few moments, and I was almost tempted to poke him to make sure he knew I was still standing next to him. "I can't," he responded.

"You... can't? Can't what?" I asked, curious. His responses always seemed to have some underlying meaning; some deeper connection that I had to seek out on my own. Kazuki seemed intent on telling me what he wanted me to know; nothing more and nothing less.

"I can't trust you. Any of you," Kazuki suddenly replied, looking straight at me. His eyes were strangely empty and overflowing at the same time. There was no contempt or hatred in his eyes, but there was something there; some kind of unspeakable truth that Kazuki was holding on to.

I was taken aback. "W-what do you mean? Of course you can trust us! Don't tell me you're still paranoid ab-"

"That's not it," Kazuki interrupted, abruptly cutting me off. "I can't trust you because... I'm not like you or the others." With that said, Kazuki didn't wait for a response and simply started off towards the central island at the same pace he began at.

I was left standing there, glued to the spot where I had heard Kazuki's cryptic words. I shook my head to clear it, but the words still hung in the air. _What in the world does he mean by that?_ I thought. Something told me that there was significance behind those words; that Kazuki had left them there as an important clue in unraveling the mystery that seemed to surround him. He spoke as if he held with him the wisdom of a thousand years, trying to lead me to some greater truth. _Just who are you, Kazuki Shirokane?_ I thought. As if to escape the onslaught of these thoughts, I took off at a jog towards the hotel; the hotel keys the number one priority on my mind.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It seemed that everyone had held the same idea as I did, with the entire class migrating towards the central island as soon as we changed out of our swimming attire. I happened across Mizuki in the second floor hallway of Hotel Valetta, and our common interest of the hotel keys brought us to walk to the central island together. I had grown accustomed to walking along with Mizuki, most likely from our circuit of introductions from the first day. Our strides were matching perfectly, and we were subconsciously in rhythm with each other. Mizuki herself was also a useful companion in general; she seemed to have done some extensive research on the incoming class, which made her perfect for learning more about the reserved and quiet students of the class.

After arriving in silence, Mizuki and I did not have to wait long for the rest of the students to do the same. The forum was still far too large to simply house the sixteen of us, but we made good use of the space and spread out amongst the steps and surrounded the peculiar square stone protrusion in the center of the forum.

Without warning, the entirety of the class was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of Monokuma, walking in towards the center of the forum carrying a cardboard box. We had obviously expected him to make a grand entrance and pop out from the center of the forum, so him walking in nonchalantly was unexpected to say the least.

"I'm surprised! You bastards actually showed up!" Monokuma said gleefully, placing the box down on top of the stone platform in the middle of the forum.

Takada was the one to respond. "Of course we showed up! You have our hotel room keys, right?" he asked threateningly. His words were loud, but that was all that they were. His ferocity was hollow; the facade already fading behind sinister undertones.

Monokuma jumped up on the platform next to the box and responded. "Absolutely! I'm a bear of my word, I'll have you know." He kicked the cardboard box next to him before continuing. "They're all right here in this box! I'm sure you bastards are smart enough to figure out who each key belongs to, right?"

"Hold on. Before that, let me ask you something," Kazuki surprisingly asked. "Why are you even giving us these keys in the first place? I thought you wanted us to kill each other."

His words were not without merit. Monokuma's goal was to get us to murder each other, so giving us a way to protect ourselves didn't seem to make much sense.

Takada wasn't too thrilled that Kazuki was asking Monokuma something like that. "What the hell are you doing! What if he changes his mind!?" he shouted at Kazuki with obvious insincerity.

"To be honest, I wasn't planning on giving you guys the keys back ever," Monokuma sad with a sad expression. "But certain **complaints** have left me no choice but to restore the order! If you guys can't control your _youthful urges_ , then I guess I have to do it for you!" he shouted.

Subconsciously, I had the urge to look away, and my face's temperature increased slightly. _He must be referring to my adventure with Lars last night..._ I thought.

"Anyways, you can come on down and get your keys now, you bastards!" Monokuma continued. "But don't worry, I'll whip up something even more despair filled to get this murder train going! Upupupu!" After his ridiculous laugh, Monokuma disappeared, leaving the cardboard box alone on the central platform.

The first to approach the box was Shawn, who was seated closest to the center in the first place. Ripping the top of the box open, he began to take out keys and distribute them to the appropriate owner. When he came across mine, he handed the key off to Mizuki, who passed the key onto me. The key itself was an odd key, colored red and with both my name and the little game sprite representation etched into it. Looking over her shoulder, I could see that Mizuki's key was the same way, with her name and sprite on the key, just colored pink instead of red.

After handing out all of the keys, Shawn turned around and faced the rest of our group, some of which was already leaving to go back to the hotel. "Wait, there's something I have to say before you leave," he said, addressing everyone.

Everyone turned to face him, some surprised by his sudden announcement. "It's about 10 o'clock right now, and we should be hearing the Monokuma Nighttime announcement sometime soon," Shawn noted. "I would like for us all to meet once again at the cafe tonight. Let's agree to all do what we need to do at Hotel Valetta and then meet in the cafe at 10:30, alright?"

Everyone was a bit surprised that Shawn had called a meeting like this out of the blue, me included. However, thinking back to the morning, Shawn had wanted to discuss something but never got a chance to due to Monokuma's interference. Perhaps this was just his plan for discussing that with us. What it was he wanted to discuss that couldn't wait until tomorrow was still beyond me.

Despite everyone's skepticism, we all agreed to meet at the cafe at 10:30. Before anyone could leave the forum, however, the monitor attached to one of the forum pillars crackled to life with an image of Monokuma at his office desk. In the same jubilant and carefree voice that Monokuma always had, he announced, "Attention all students! It is now 10:00 p.m.! Nighttime is officially in effect, and access to certain areas will now be restricted! Sweet dreams everyone!" With a short flicker, the monitor went black once again.

"I-I'm still... hungry though..." Yuki proclaimed weakly, looking down at the floor.

Enthusiastically coming to her aid, Hanako turned to face Yuki. "I bet I can put something together for you without needing to go into the kitchen," she said, giving Yuki a reassuring look.

Ryouko stuck her hand out towards both of them in response. "Here, give me your room keys and I'll take care of 'em. You can just go straight to the cafe and get some food, Yuki," she said, taking both of the keys from Hanako and Yuki. During the exchange, people had started to make their way to the first island and towards the hotel, leaving behind only a few stragglers. In the end, the only two people left at the forum were myself and Ichijo, who was staring off into space with a blank expression. I couldn't really tell if he was thinking hard about something, but he definitely wasn't paying any attention to what was going on around him.

"Hey, Ichijo, you alright?" I asked, waving a hand toward him as if to grab his attention.

Ichijo blinked a few times, and shook his head before responding. "W-what? Oh, y-yeah, I'm..." he replied, trailing off. "Actually, there is something..." he added. His empty gray eyes looked off into the distance at an indiscernible spot. Burning silently, there was something eating away at him from the inside; something that he desperately wanted to release from its prison inside of his conscience. He awkwardly fidgeted with his right hand before finally seeming to come to a definite decision. "Come meet me outside my hotel room after you go to yours; there's... something I need to tell you. Something that could be... dangerous."

My eyebrow rose unconsciously, and my curiosity was piqued. _What does he mean by 'dangerous'?_ I wondered. _Perhaps this has to do with that secret he was talking about with Eiko_. "Alright, I'll see you then, I guess," I responded, heading off towards the hotel. Ichijo was still standing there, looking off into the distance when I lost sight of him over the bridge to the first island.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Entering Hotel Valetta through the front entrance, I was greeted silently by K, who only nodded in acknowledgement as I passed by. She seemed to be waiting for 10:30 to come around before heading off to the cafe, leaning against one of the lobby walls and watching whoever came by with slight disinterest.

Moving straight past her and up the stairs, I came to stand in front of my own room, the hotel room numbered 13. The red hotel number on the plate was still affixed underneath my name and the sprite, the same ones on my own key. Entering the room, I closed the door behind me and shoved the key into the doorknob on the inside. Sure enough, the key fit and turning the key yielded a satisfying locking noise. Confirming it, I turned the doorknob. It was definitely locked.

"Man, this room sure is fit for a Super High School Level Bad Luck like you," a voice that could have only belonged to Monokuma said close behind me.

"Ack!" I shouted in response, spinning around to find Monokuma standing in the corner of the room. "What are you doing here? What do you want now?" I shouted at him, slightly annoyed at his presence.

"Nothing! I just came by to inform you of some inconveniences with your hotel room, that's all!" Monokuma shouted gleefully, walking over to the opposite corner of the room. "Like how you're going to have to deal with a nasty draft due to this path here." Monokuma pushed the desk over slightly to reveal a small hatch on the floor.

"What is that?" I asked, coming closer to investigate.

Monokuma threw open the hatch and motioned for me to peer inside. "It's a secret escape hatch! This'll be sure to get you out of some sticky situations, so don't forget about it! Lucky for you this room is the only one equipped with one! It leads you straight out of Hotel Valetta!"

I looked inside the hatch and saw that Monokuma wasn't lying. I could see the grounds of the hotel complex outside of the hotel building itself through the path. _Lucky me_ , I thought sarcastically. I took a step back and suddenly remembered Ichijo's request. "Is that all you wanted to say?" I asked impatiently.

"Oh, I see how it is, Keiichi. You're so busy now that you don't even have time for me anymore. What a shame. High school kids these days never manage their time effectively," Monokuma said with a sad expression. "Whatever! I'll leave you to your 'business', but don't do anything R rated, okay?" he shouted gleefully, giggling at my expense. After moving towards the door, Monokuma disappeared from my sight.

Exiting my room, I peered down the hallway to see Ichijo standing in front of his door, putting the key into the keyhole. "Hey, Ichijo!" I said, alerting him to my presence if he wasn't already aware. He looked over at me and waved, motioning for me to join him. I closed my door and walked over beside him, watching him methodically open the door. His nameplate and sprite sat above the blue hotel room number; number 7.

Upon entering the room, I walked past Ichijo into the center of the room. Ichijo busied himself with locking the door from the inside, most likely to keep whatever he needed to tell me a secret. The room itself was almost an exact copy of mine; even the red color theme was the same. He had the same kind of furniture and the same amount of space that I had in my room. I decided to take a look over in the corner of his room, and, sure enough, there was no secret path like there was in my room. "Hmm... I guess he was telling the truth. There's no path here," I said aloud.

"Path?" Ichijo inquired, taking a step into the room away from the door.

I turned and headed towards Ichijo and answered, "There's a secret path in my hotel room that leads out of the hotel, but there isn't one in this room."

Ichijo nodded, but didn't say anything in response. For a few long moments, we simply stood facing each other in silence. I was standing facing out of the room towards the door at Ichijo, so I didn't have much to look at until the moment passed. I was about to press the conversation, but Ichijo seemed to have readied himself to discuss whatever it was he wanted to discuss with me.

Looking not at me, but almost through me, as if I weren't even there, Ichijo began. "There's something you need to know. A secret that you should hear. A dangerous secret." His voice was calm and quiet, most likely to avoid anyone overhearing the conversation. "Basically, what I need to tell you is that-"

In that instant, the world went black. I wouldn't feel the searing pain in the back of my head until later, when I came to.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"...ijo! ...en up!"

I could faintly hear voices from somewhere nearby, but I couldn't quite make out what they were saying. What I could make out was that they were yelling quite loudly, in between loud and forceful bangs. My eyesight was still blurry, so despite the fact that I was conscious, I wasn't aware of my surroundings.

The banging and the yelling continued, and my senses began to return to me. The back of my head was searing with pain, and I had terrible aches pulsing throughout my whole body. I found that I was lying sideways on the ground, and for some reason, the ground seemed to be covered in something.

Once I blinked a few times, several images flashed through my mind in rapid succession. The first was the image of the dead student that had occupied my room only a few days earlier. The blood that had flooded his corpse and the knife jutting out from his chest were clearly visible. The second was the image of Ichijo Yuzaki, looking past me and talking about something. The last image, was the terrifying reality that now stood before me.

Laying up against the wall in front of me was the body of Ichijo Yuzaki, the Super High School Level Pianist, laying in a vast pink sea of his own blood.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

**15 STUDENTS REMAIN**


	7. Chapter 1: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing - Part IV - Deadly Life (Investigation)

I couldn't move. My mind screamed and twisted with the desire to escape; the desire to run away somewhere far away and hide from the scene in front of me. But the message wouldn't reach my body, which laid frozen in place on the floor. My blood ran cold, and an uncontrollable shiver ran its way up my spine. I wanted to scream; to cover my ears and scream so loud that it would make everything fade away.

But none of that was going to happen. I was forced in that instant to accept what I saw before me and deal with it. Ichijo Yuzaki, the Super High School Level Pianist, was laying dead against the wall in front of me. My last memory contained a very much alive Ichijo, confiding in me with his "dangerous" secret. The body before me only bore a physical resemblance to the Ichijo Yuzaki that I knew. All of the life that had flowed through him was now gone, leaving only the hollow shell of a person behind.

Ichijo's eyes were closed, but that was the only normal part of the scene. A large wound in his chest was soaked in blood, and his shirt was stained completely through. The blood from the wound had started to form a pool on the floor. I then realized that I was laying in that pool of blood. I pulled my hand over in front of my face and saw that it was covered in Ichijo's blood.

Suddenly, my thoughts were interrupted by the door of the room being shoved open violently. Plunging into the room behind the door was Smith, shortly followed by Kazuki and Mizuki. The three of them bore confused and concerned expressions upon seeing me in the room. Those expressions, however, quickly changed to expressions of horror and despair when their eyes came to rest on Ichijo's body. Mizuki covered her mouth with her hand and rushed out of the room, unpleasant gagging noises accompanying her. Smith looked at the body in horror for a few moments before looking away, trying desperately to erase the sight from his mind. Kazuki's eyes grew wide and he began to look frantically around the room, eventually coming to rest looking at me.

Throughout this whole ordeal, I felt as though I was almost observing the situation from an outside perspective. Like I wasn't really there. Like I was just watching a story unfold before my eyes. But reality took hold and forced me back into my body, forcing me to confront the situation I wanted so badly to be detached from. My horror and disgust returned to me overwhelmingly in one instant, and I couldn't stop the nausea from taking over. I quickly spun around and located the garbage can, just in time to expel the contents of my stomach into it.

That's when it happened. A familiar tune played throughout the room. As if on cue, the monitor in the room crackled to life. On the monitor was Monokuma, sitting once again at his desk. The message he announced made the hair on the back of my neck stand straight on end. "A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, a **class trial** will be held!" The monitor then faded to black just as quickly as it had turned on.

I heard footsteps run out of the room behind me, but I paid them no attention. I had never been forced to wake up to such a gruesome sight, let alone see a dead corpse at all. The image of Ichijo's dead body laying in a pool of his own blood was burned into my mind, and just the thought of it sent shivers up my spine. I was uncontrollably shaking very slightly, and I was breathing heavily.

I didn't know how much time had passed, but before I knew it, the rest of the students had gathered around the room, all of them expressing similar reactions of terror.

"My god..." Yosuke said quietly, grimacing and looking away from the body.

Eiko said nothing, but the look in her eyes said all that I needed to know. Her face was frozen in fear and despair, and the vitality that she had before was now gone.

"W-what is this?" Kurami managed to get out.

"I-Is he... really dead?" Hanako asked in disbelief.

"Why, of course he is! Don't you see all the blood on the floor?" that childish voice cried out in response.

I turned to see Monokuma, gleefully stepping into the room. He bore a satisfied, almost pleased expression as he came to rest in the middle of the room.

"W-what the hell is this?! Y-you did this, didn't you, you bastard!" Lars roared, now making a fist at Monokuma.

Monokuma bared his claws and menacingly pointed them at Lars. "Hey! Don't try to blame this on me! It was one of you bastards who murdered him! Not me!" he shouted in reply.

Lars didn't back down. "Y-you're lying! Y-you have to be! None of us would... would..."

"Upupu, are you sure about that? I told you before, didn't I? Someone would get the itch to kill. I just didn't think it would be this easy! I didn't even need to use another motive to get you guys to go all out!" Monokuma responded.

I gritted my teeth. _There's no way... one of us... did... this, right?_ I thought. I reassured myself over and over again in my mind, but it was no use. The image of the dead student in my room just a few days before wouldn't let me dismiss the idea. No, not just dismiss it. The fact that I was even considering that possibility cemented that possibility as the truth. One of us had killed Ichijo. That was the thought that ran in circles through my mind.

"What are you guys waiting around for? You better get investigating before it's too late!" Monokuma shouted, breaking the silence.

"I-investigate? W-what are you talking about?" Mizuki responded.

"For the class trial, of course!" Monokuma stopped short. "Oh, silly me, I totally forgot to tell you bastards about the class trial!" He turned around and walked towards the other side of the room before continuing.

"Basically, you guys have to investigate the murder to try and discover who the killer is! After a certain amount of investigation time, we're going to hold a class trial! During the class trial, you guys are going to have to debate who you think the culprit is! Then, you'll all cast you're votes for who you think the culprit is! If the majority of you pick the correct culprit, then the culprit will be executed! But if you pick the wrong person..." Monokuma's red eye lit up and his gaze turned menacingly towards us. "...then I'll execute everyone _besides_ the culprit!"

The room went silent. No one dared to say anything in response. What they had just heard from Monokuma was absolutely insane. It was something that you couldn't have even dreamed up as being a worst-case scenario. Not only was their friend dead in front of them, but now they had to investigate his death and find the culprit? And their lives were at stake if they chose the wrong killer?

"I see we're starting to make some progress here! I'm glad you're all starting to realize that this is serious!" Monokuma said gleefully. "Well, good luck with your investigation! I'll see you guys at the class trial!" Monokuma then disappeared from the room, leaving us behind to put everything we had just heard into a form we could comprehend.

"W-what is this? How is this happening?" Ryouko said, gripping Yuki's hand tightly. Yuki seemed too scared to say anything at all herself.

"T-there's no way... that damned bear... he's lying, right? He... he has to be..." Lars repeated to himself.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Takada said suddenly.

Fourteen pairs of eyes looked straight at him. Takada only smirked in response. "I am a little surprised, though. Didn't think anyone would manage to do it before me."

"W-what are you saying?" Smith asked, balling up his fist.

Takada turned towards the door. "There's no doubt that one of us killed him. Your desperate attempts to look away from the truth are only going to get you all killed," he said coldly. "In fact, it already has claimed one of you." He pointed a finger lazily at Ichijo's dead body. "You knew about that dead student we found on the first day we got here, yet you all did nothing to try and prevent someone else from getting killed." Takada sighed. "If I were you guys, I'd get on with investigating his murder. That is, if you want to get out of this alive."

"Hey! Your life is at stake here too, you know!" Lars shouted at Takada.

Takada smirked and turned his head. "And so what if it is? I have no intention of dying any time soon, so I really have nothing to worry about." He waved his hand nonchalantly at us before walking calmly out of the room.

The room had grown much more tense after that exchange. If anyone had denied the possibility outright, they now were forced to accept it as reality. The despair of that truth began to set in, and everyone simply looked off into space with wide-eyes, unable to do much of anything.

Shawn was the one who broke the tension. "We... we have to do this..." he said quietly, almost whispering.

"W-what?" Mizuki responded. "What are you talking about?"

"We have to investigate Ichijo's murder," Shawn responded. "You heard Monokuma. Our lives depend on it."

"That is a cruel fate to have thrust upon us..." K said, her first contribution since entering the room.

"How... how can we do something... like that? It's just... too cruel..." Hanako said, gripping the strap of her bag tightly.

"We have to," Kazuki proclaimed sternly. He, unlike the rest of us, seemed to have regained his composure, if he had lost it at all. "If we don't find out who killed Ichijo, we'll all be killed along with him."

"H-he's right," Ryouko added. "If we don't do this..." she trailed off.

"But how are we supposed to do that anyway? None of us are expert detectives or anything!" Yosuke shouted.

Hanako stood up straight and shook her head. "I'm a forensic investigator. While I might not be a detective, I think I might be able to do some investigation with my tools here." She pointed at her bag.

"There's no way... there's no way... there's no way..." Hazuki repeated to herself over and over again.

I stood up and balled up my own fist. I wasn't going to let that bear win. No matter what, I couldn't give up. If I had to investigate Ichijo's murder and find out who killed him to survive, then that's what I had to do. But I wasn't going to be able to do it alone. "We have to do it. No matter how cruel and painful it is. We have to do this if we're going to survive," I said.

However, my words didn't yield the expected response. No one shouted in agreement, or even nodded. Instead, I was now faced with the stares of thirteen eyes. "To be honest, you're the most suspicious," Smith said suddenly.

"W-what? What are you talking about?" I stammered in response.

Smith's gaze hardened. "When we got here, the door was locked, but you were inside. Why were you in here with his dead body?"

"I..." I couldn't respond. I had been in here to talk to Ichijo, but I had no idea why he was dead, or why I was unconscious. Because of those circumstances, I was now the object of everyone's suspicion.

"Hanako," Kazuki said suddenly.

Hanako jumped a bit in response, clearly a bit shaken up by the whole ordeal and still a bit on edge. "W-what?" she responded hastily.

"Could you check something for me? I want you to look in Ichijo's pockets," Kazuki requested.

Hanako seemed a bit reluctant to touch the body, but her hesitation disappeared after she took a deep breath and steeled herself. Reaching into Ichijo's pocket, she fumbled around for a second before pulling something out and showing Kazuki. In her hand was Ichijo's green room key, inscribed with his name and picture.

Kazuki nodded. "I see," he said quietly.

"What? What do you see?" Ryouko asked, anticipation clear in her voice.

"His key was in his pocket the whole time. I haven't taken my eyes off of the body the entire time since Smith broke into the room. The only person to touch that body was Hanako," Kazuki explained. "Do you know what that means?"

Several gasps were heard throughout the room, as some of the more perceptive students came to the same realization that Kazuki had just a few moments before. Hazuki seemed to have come back to reality, and was clearly lost. "W-what? What does that mean? I don't get it at all!" she shouted.

Shawn sighed. "It means that this was a perfect locked room until just a few minutes ago." He paused for a moment to make sure everyone was following. "And if that is the case, that means that the culprit couldn't have left the room."

I cringed when Shawn had finished his sentence. Of course, I had figured that out at the same point that Kazuki did, but nonetheless, hearing it said out loud was still painful. The implications of that logic were obvious. If the killer couldn't have left the room, that would mean that I, the only living person found in the room, had to be the killer.

Smith wasted no time in reacting. With speed like a tiger, he closed the distance between us and grabbed me by the collar, hoisting me up into the air. He held a closed fist with his other hand, ready to punch me at any moment. "You bastard! It was you! You killed him didn't you!" He roared, anger seething out of him.

"Let him go," Kazuki said authoritatively.

Everyone in the room stopped for a moment and looked at Kazuki, Smith and I included. "What? He's the killer, he has to be! You just said-" Smith started.

"You heard Monokuma, didn't you?" Kazuki responded. "We're going to hold a class trial to decide the culprit. Then they will get their due punishment. Until then, we are going to investigate Ichijo's death."

"But there's no one else it could be! Why should we investigate if-" Lars started.

"Innocent until proven guilty," Shawn said quietly. "Until we investigate fully, we can't know for sure if he's guilty." He shot a glare over at Lars. "If you're so convinced that he's guilty, then go find evidence that proves it."

K stepped towards the door before adding, "He's right. Our lives depend on the accuracy of our assertions. Hastily settling on a culprit without sufficient cause would be paramount to committing suicide."

Smith let out a breath and let go of my collar. He dropped his fist to his side and took a step away from me. He never looked me straight in the eye, but I could sense his certainty that I was guilty. Even with everything Kazuki and Shawn had said, I could tell that everyone in the room held a silent suspicion towards me being the killer.

"So, where do we start?" Kurami asked, seemingly over the shock of coming across a dead body.

Shawn thought for a long moment before responding. "First, we should have someone guard the scene to make sure no one tampers with any evidence. Even one piece of missing evidence could prove disastrous for us in a case like this."

Smith was the first to volunteer. "I'm probably no good at this investigation stuff anyway, and I'm sure that I could stop anyone who tries to tamper with the scene."

"Alright, that covers that," Shawn replied.

"Hold on a sec, that's not going to work, ya know," Ryouko said suddenly, her arms crossed.

"What's the problem?" Smith asked, a hint of resentment in his voice.

Ryouko pointed a finger straight at Smith. "Well, what if Smith is the culprit? Doesn't that mean he has free reign to just mess with whatever he pleases?" she argued.

Hanako stepped in between them. "Well then, why don't you be on guard duty as well? That would solve the problem, wouldn't it?"

Ryouko stopped for a second, caught off guard by Hanako's unexpected assistance. "Y-yeah, you're right. But I don't think that-" she started, looking down at Yuki.

"I-It's fine, I can... handle myself," Yuki responded, unconvincingly.

Ryouko scratched her head. "Well, I mean, I'm still a bit worried that-"

"I said I can handle myself!" Yuki shouted forcefully, taking off out of the room.

"Y-Yuki, wait!" Ryouko shouted. Her words didn't seem to reach Yuki, however, as she disappeared out of the room and into the hotel.

The room fell into silence for a few moments; everyone was too hesitant to do anything sudden. Shawn sighed, clearly unsatisfied with how things were progressing. "Look, we don't know how much time we have until the class trial, so let's get moving with this investigation!" he commanded, catching everyone's attention. As if he had cast a spell, everyone began to move and talk all at once, discussing possible clues and looking for evidence as best they could.

I didn't move from where I was standing. I still couldn't believe that Ichijo was actually dead, and that I was the prime suspect. There was one thing I knew for sure, though. I knew for a fact that I was innocent. My last memory of Ichijo before his death was when we were talking in his room together. After that, I blacked out and came to in this room, Ichijo's dead body already inside. There was no way I was the killer. _But how in the world am I going to prove it?_ I thought, hopelessness already setting in.

"You should start by investigating the crime scene," Mizuki suddenly said to me. I didn't notice that she had approached me, and by the time I realized it she was standing next to me and waving her hand in front of my face.

"W-what?" I responded reflexively.

Mizuki sighed. "If you want to prove your innocence, then you should start getting some evidence to prove it," she said calmly.

"You mean, you think I'm innocent?" I asked, hopeful.

Mizuki shook her head. "No, not exactly. I don't know for sure, but I have a feeling that there's something more going on here that we're not seeing just yet." She smiled at me, but I could tell that behind the calm veil was a terrified girl. Just a few minutes ago she had been throwing up in response to the body just like me.

I shook my head. _None of that matters_ , I thought. _I need to prove my innocence_. _Not just for my sake, but for everyone's sake_. _If they choose me as the culprit, then..._ I didn't want to think about that. No matter what, I wasn't going to let that happen. Having regained my composure, I took a deep breath and nodded to Mizuki. It seemed as though she was going to assist me in this investigation, regardless of if she thought I was guilty or not. With that, I stepped towards the body and began my investigation.

"Not so fast there, Keiichi!" Monokuma suddenly shouted. He had appeared out of nowhere behind me and was holding something in his hands. "You're going to need the Monokuma File if you want to have any chance of proving your innocence!" Thrusting the object into my hands, Monokuma disappeared in a fit of laughter before I had a chance to say anything in response.

I looked at the object in my hand and realized that it was an electronic device, much like the e-Handbook I had in my pocket already. The screen displayed the words "Monokuma File 1" clearly on a white background. Scrolling down the page, I was greeted with details of Ichijo's death. There was a lot of information about Ichijo himself as well; age, height, weight; things like that. Below it was what seemed like an autopsy report, with a diagram of Ichijo's body that detailed the wounds he had received. There was also a whole section detailing important details about the murder:

\- **Monokuma File 1** -

 **Cause of Death:** _Blood loss due to a single stab wound to the abdomen._

 **Time of Death:** _10:25 P.M._

 **Additional Information:** _The only other wounds on the body are bruises on both of the victim's palms._

I knelt down next to Ichijo's body, careful not to step in any of the blood or touch anything unnecessarily. Hanako was already looking at Ichijo's body, carefully examining his clothes. I quickly noticed the obvious source of the blood flooding the room. A large wound was apparent in Ichijo's chest, the blood soaking through his shirt. It looked like something had been stabbed into him, and then removed. _That must be the cause of death_ , I thought.

"Wonder what it was..." Mizuki whispered.

"Huh?" I replied instinctively.

Mizuki pointed at the wound on Ichijo's body. "The murder weapon, I mean. I don't know if we can figure it out just by looking at the wound, but I think if we find out what the murder weapon was, we'll be that much closer to finding out who the killer is."

"You're right," I responded. Looking at the wound, it was obvious that it was something sharp, at least. Having no prior investigative experience, that was the best that Mizuki and I could come up with just from looking at the wound. Not that it would be very helpful in finding the weapon.

"Maybe this could help?" Hanako suddenly asked, lifting up Ichijo's hand and facing the palm toward us. I could clearly see the bruise on his palm, just as the Monokuma File said. But there was something else that caught my eye.

"Is that... gold?" I asked, pointing at the small specks of gold that were on his palms.

Hanako nodded. "At least, that's what it looks like."

"Maybe Ichijo fought the killer and got those bruises on his hands..." Mizuki theorized.

"Then that would mean..." I started, trailing off. _If Ichijo fought the killer, then that means that the thing that left that gold must have been the murder weapon_ , I thought.

"Did you find anything else that looks strange, Hanako?" Mizuki asked.

Hanako thought for a second before nodding. "Actually, I did. Take a look at this." She pointed over at the floor close to where Ichijo's body was.

"Hmm... there's nothing there, Hanako," I replied.

"That's just it, doesn't that seem a bit weird to you?" Hanako asked.

"Ah, you mean that there's no blood there?" Mizuki asked.

Hanako nodded. "I mean, there's blood all around this spot, but there is no blood on the ground right here."

My eyes went wide for a moment when I realized what I was looking at. The spot she was pointing to was the spot where I woke up and found Ichijo's body. I quickly looked down at my shirt and found that there was blood on both sides of my shirt, but the center of my shirt was still dry. _My shirt must have absorbed the blood so that it didn't go onto the ground where I was laying_ , I thought. I made sure to make note of that, as it would surely be an important detail later on.

I looked over at Hanako and saw her take something out of her bag. "What's that?" I asked, pointing at the object.

Hanako looked up at me and fixed her glasses. "It's just something used for blood tests. Although, I'm pretty sure Ichijo's blood is the only blood we're going to find."

"Hmm... is there any other tests you can run?" I asked, hopeful for any kind of evidence testing.

Hanako shook her head. "Unfortunately, it seems that my fingerprinting supplies are missing from my bag," she replied.

"Missing? You think Monokuma took them from you?" I asked.

Hanako nodded. "I definitely had it in here before I was taken to this island. I guess I just didn't notice that Monokuma took them from me."

"Alright. Thanks anyway, Hanako," I replied.

Hanako smiled a weak smile and returned to the torturous task of examining the dead body of one of her friends.

I stood up from the body, letting out a breath at the same time. Then I stopped and looked over at Mizuki. "Hey, Mizuki. What time is it?" I asked, realizing that I had no idea how long it had been since the time that I had been talking to Ichijo.

Mizuki thought for a moment before answering. "It should be about 11:15 or so, I think."

"11:15? Then Ichijo was killed about 50 minutes ago..." I replied. I had returned to my room at about 10:15, after we got our keys back, so that would mean that I had been out for about an hour. Meaning that Ichijo had been killed right after I had blacked out.

Upon reaching that conclusion, I grimaced unconsciously and put my hand to the back of my head. I had been in too much shock before upon discovering the body, but now I clearly felt the pain in the back of my head. _Someone must have hit me and knocked me unconscious_ , I thought. That seemed to be the only explanation that made sense. Why else would I have blacked out so suddenly?

This new information in mind, I turned and walked over to where Shawn was standing, looking at the desk in the corner of the room. "Find anything?" I asked.

Shawn shook his head. "Nothing. Nothing at all. No hidden passages, no weapons; nothing. Things aren't looking good for you," he replied, a bit defeated.

I was about to turn around and look elsewhere when I spotted something out of the corner of my eye. "What's that?" I asked, pointing to the space between the desk and the wall.

Shawn followed my gaze and saw the piece of paper crumpled up and stuffed into the gap as well. Pulling it out carefully, he unraveled it and read it silently to himself. His eyes went wide and he had a look of disbelief on his face. Without another word, he handed the paper to me. Mizuki looked over my shoulder as I read the contents of the note.

**'Murder Ichijo Yuzaki by Nighttime tonight or else I will kill you both.'**

I heard Mizuki gasp behind me as she reached the end of the note. "T-this is..." I said, unable to put it into words.

Shawn looked away. "Somebody wanted Ichijo dead," he said, gritting his teeth.

Mizuki looked down as well, unable to believe that somebody would want Ichijo dead that badly. Whoever had written the note seemed to be willing to kill in order to get Ichijo murdered. "Maybe..." I began, "If we could find out who received this note..."

"You think they're the killer?" Shawn asked.

"Well, Ichijo is the only one dead, right? That means that whoever sent the note probably didn't do it, since they were planning on killing two people," I said.

"But that doesn't really mean anything, right? Even if they weren't just bluffing, they could have had a million reasons for only killing Ichijo," Mizuki replied.

She was right. This note didn't prove anything on its own. But for some reason, I felt that it was at the heart of this case. I folded the note neatly and put it into my pocket, careful to make sure I kept it safe for later.

I turned and headed towards the two guards of the room, Ryouko and Smith, who were standing and observing everyone's actions in the room. I needed to talk with Smith, the person who had broken into the room, in order to figure out the state of the room when they found it.

"Hey Smith, do you mind if I ask you a couple of questions?" I asked, careful not to say anything that might bring Smith's wrath down upon me. Despite his usual cool and level-headed reliability, he seemed to have a fiery and angry side as well.

"Hmph. Go ahead. I suppose I owe you that much," Smith replied.

"When you got here, the door to Ichijo's room was locked, right?" I asked.

Smith nodded. "Locked tight. I tried to get it open, but the doorknob wouldn't budge. I was banging on the door and yelling for Ichijo to open the door, but no one responded. I was about to bust the door down when Kazuki stopped me."

"He... stopped you?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah. He told me to wait a second and then he tried to get the door open the same way I was. He couldn't get it open either, of course, but that was obvious. Then he just told me to bust the door down, like I was going to in the first place," Smith responded.

_Why did Kazuki do that?_ I wondered. "By the way, why were you guys looking for Ichijo anyway?" I asked.

"Because he didn't show up. Well, neither did you, now that I think about it," Smith said.

"Oh, that's right. We were supposed to meet up at the cafe after we went to the hotel," I said, remembering the details. "So when Ichijo and I didn't show up, you guys went looking for us?"

Smith nodded. "That's right. Mizuki, Kazuki, and I went to the hotel to see if you guys had just forgotten about the meeting. And then you know the rest."

I nodded. Nothing about that was strange. "Thanks, Smith," I said, extending my hand out to him.

Smith simply nodded before walking off to the other side of the room. It was obvious that he still thought I was the culprit.

I was about to talk to Ryouko when I saw Hazuki out of the corner of my eye, climbing around on her hands and knees inside of Ichijo's closet. I walked over to the closet, but Hazuki didn't seem to notice me approach. She was preoccupied with climbing around and looking for something.

"What are you doing?" I asked, trying to get Hazuki's attention.

She jumped a bit in response, and crawled back out of the closet and faced me. She was making her weird 'thinking noises' again.

"What is it, Hazuki?" Mizuki asked.

"Ichijo's closet sure is big and spacey, don't you think Miki-chan?" Hazuki asked, pointing into the closet. Looking inside, I realized that she was right, but not for the reasons she thought she was.

"It's empty," I said. For some reason, there were no clothes to be found anywhere in the closet. Not one pair of pants or one shirt hung on the empty clothes rack. In fact, there wasn't anything at all inside the closet.

"That's strange..." Mizuki said, deep in thought. I nodded. _Where are all of Ichijo's clothes?_ I wondered.

Hazuki returned to combing through the closet for anything at all, and Mizuki and I went off in search of more clues. I returned to where Ryouko was standing, a worried expression on her face.

"What's wrong, Ryouko?" I asked, concerned.

Her face returned to her normal, carefree expression once I asked the question. "It's nothin'. I'm just a little worried about Yuki, that's all," she replied.

_That's right_ , I thought, _Yuki did run off a little while ago for no reason._ "Ah, speaking of Yuki," I began, "I remember that she was in the cafe with Hanako at 10 o'clock, right?"

Ryouko nodded. "That's right. She was still a bit hungry, so Hanako wanted to whip her up something quick. I took both of their keys and locked all of our doors. When I went to the cafe, both of them were still there waiting."

_So they've both got alibis_ , I thought. I relaxed a bit. I had been a bit worried about leaving investigating Ichijo's body to just one person, but there was no way Hanako was the culprit. She had been with Yuki at the time of the murder, after all.

"We'll go check on Yuki for you, Ryouko," Mizuki said reassuringly.

Ryouko smiled. "Thanks. I'll keep a good eye on the scene and make sure nothin' gets tampered with!" She gave us an exaggerated thumbs up as if to prove her sincerity. I gave her a quick nod before heading out of the room, Mizuki following shortly behind.

Upon entering the hallway, I happened to notice that my hotel room door was slightly open. Looking inside, I found Kazuki and Eiko, looking around for evidence.

"What are you guys looking for?" I asked.

Kazuki turned around and looked at me for a moment before resuming his search. "Anything," he replied.

I sighed. They did have a right to be looking in my room, after all. I was the prime suspect, so surely if I was guilty, I would have hidden evidence in my room. However, I smiled a bit at the thought. I knew for a fact that they wouldn't find anything incriminating in my room. Once they realized that, they would surely stop suspecting me.

I was about to leave them to their investigation when I remembered my conversation with Eiko in the library yesterday. She had been reading detective fiction. More specifically, locked-room mysteries. Perhaps her background knowledge could help me to solve the locked-room and prove my innocence.

"Hey Eiko, do you mind if I ask you something?" I asked, tapping her on the shoulder.

She turned around abruptly, still on edge due to the murder. Her composure was slightly worse than it usually was; she was obviously shaken up by discovering that one of her friends was dead. She had been closer to Ichijo than the rest of us, so perhaps she could also shed some insight into Ichijo's death that way.

"Absolutely. Please, ask me anything you wish," she responded.

"It's about those 'locked-room mysteries' you were talking about yesterday," I began. "What do you think about the supposed 'locked-room' in this case?"

Eiko thought for a long moment before responding. "I can't think of anything obviously wrong off of the top of my head. There are no other ways out of the room; even the window was still locked from the inside and it wasn't broken either."

Then, suddenly an idea came into her mind. "Hold on, do you happen to know who discovered that the door was locked?" she asked.

"That would have been Smith, Kazuki, and I," Mizuki responded.

"But who actually checked that the door was indeed locked?" Eiko asked.

"Smith was the one to check the door first," Mizuki answered.

Eiko nodded. "It is possible that whoever found the room locked is simply lying about the door being locked in order to create the illusion of a locked-room."

I shook my head. "No, that's not possible," I replied.

Eiko looked confused. "Why is that?" she asked.

_So that's why..._ I thought. "Kazuki checked the door too, according to Smith."

Mizuki nodded in response. "Yeah, he did, now that I think about it. He couldn't open the door either."

Eiko looked a bit defeated, but she rebounded quickly. "What about if the door was just blocked on the inside?"

I thought for a moment before responding. "No, that's not possible either. I remember that there was nothing behind the door when Smith broke into the room."

Eiko groaned, obviously stumped. Unfortunately for me, despite my innocence, the perfect locked-room still stood as the main obstacle. "Well, thanks for the help anyways, Eiko," I said, smiling at her.

Eiko bowed slightly and then turned to resume her search of my room. I headed off out of the room and was greeted by an argument occuring in the hallway. The two participants were none other than Lars and Hazuki.

"Just give me the key! Unless you've got something to hide in there!" Lars shouted.

"No way, you perv! You're totally gonna do something weird! There's no way I'm letting you into my room!" Hazuki yelled back.

"Hey, what's going on out here!" Shawn shouted, exiting Ichijo's room and getting between Lars and Hazuki.

"She won't let me search her room! Probably because she's hiding evidence in there!" Lars shouted.

"It's called privacy, you big jerkface! Besides, I won't let a perv like you into my room!" Hazuki shouted back.

"Alright, alright, calm down," Shawn pleaded. "Look, let's do this instead. Hazuki, go round up everyone's keys and put them in the cafe. That way, no one can get into their rooms to hide any evidence, okay?" He glanced over at Lars. "And no perverts can get into the rooms either."

Lars grunted and looked away, but grudgingly accepted. Hazuki seemed to accept it as well, and she ran off down the stairs after grabbing everyone's keys on the second floor. Even Mizuki and I gave up our keys. Although, having my key wouldn't do any good, as my room was already open to investigation.

Heading down the stairs and into the lobby, I found K, leaning up against the lobby wall in the same place she was when I entered the hotel. _Wait a minute_ , I thought, _K might have seen who came and went through the hotel near the time of the murder._

I walked over to where she was standing, and she looked straight at me the whole time I was approaching. "Is there something you require of me?" she asked, still with a lollipop in her mouth.

"Yeah, actually. How long were you here in the lobby?" I asked.

"I was the first to arrive here after 10 o'clock. I was also the last to leave here at 10:30," she responded.

"So you saw everyone who came through the lobby?" I asked.

K nodded. "Everyone with the exception of Hanako and Yuki entered the hotel. Everyone with the exception of Ichijo and yourself left the hotel before 10:30."

"Everyone? Did you see anyone acting suspicious?" I asked, desperate for anything.

K shook her head. "No one seemed suspicious in the slightest. I sensed no killing intent from any one of them."

I sighed. _So everyone else passed through here between 10 and 10:30,_ I thought. That wasn't going to help me pin down my list of suspects. At the moment, only Hanako, Yuki, and myself could be considered free from suspicion. Waving shortly to K, I headed off to the laundry room, where I had spotted Yuki earlier.

Entering the room, I also spotted Kurami, putting her head into one of the washing machines, looking for any evidence.

"That reminds me," I said suddenly, "Ichijo's clothes were missing."

Kurami pulled her head out of the washing machine and looked over at me. "I noticed that too, that's why I'm so confused..." she said, looking around at the washing machines.

"Confused? Why?" I asked.

"Because I saw him cleaning them today. When I went to go head to the beach, I happened to see him and Eiko cleaning their clothes in here," she replied. "That's why I thought it was weird that they weren't in his room. But they're not in here either."

"They're not?" I asked. _If they weren't in his room or the laundry room, where were they?_ I wondered.

"A-actually... um..." Yuki started, barely whispering.

"What is it Yuki?" Mizuki asked calmly.

"K-Kazuki told me to... l-look for the clothes too..." she said, looking down at the floor.

_Kazuki did?_ I thought. "Did you happen to find them?"

Yuki shook her head. "I-I looked all over the place, but... I couldn't find them anywhere..."

I stood still and thought for a long moment. Why were Ichijo's clothes missing? What does that even have to do with his death? I thought. No matter how I thought about it, I couldn't come up with anything. Their disappearance was certainly strange, but they didn't seem to have anything to do with his death.

I snapped out of my thoughts. I had been staring off out of the hotel through the window in the laundry room when I saw something. Well, I didn't see it actually. What I saw was that it was missing. The golden spear from the knight statue to the left of the window was missing. I walked over to the knight on the right and pulled on the spear in its hands. Sure enough, the spear came out without much effort.

The spear itself was surprisingly heavy for its size, but certainly not unwieldy. I went to put the spear back when I noticed that the gold on the spear was coming off onto my hands. _That's it then..._ I thought. _This must be what left that gold on Ichijo's hands._ In other words, the missing spear was the murder weapon. _But where was it now?_ I wondered. Without the murder weapon, we couldn't make any claims about who could have used it. The spear had simply been in the laundry room, anyone could have come and taken it.

Finished looking at everything in the laundry room, Mizuki and I headed out of the hotel and over to the cafe. It was the only other place related to the murder that they hadn't checked out yet. Looking inside, the only people who were to be found were Yosuke and Hazuki. Hazuki was putting a cardboard box on top of the counter, most likely filled with everyone's room key. Yosuke on the other hand, was staring blankly at the table he was sitting at.

"Hey Yosuke, you alright?" I asked.

Yosuke jumped a bit, startled by my sudden question. "W-what? Oh, uh, yeah, yeah. I'm fine. You guys need something?" he asked.

I thought for a moment before asking, "Yeah, actually. You were here in the cafe at 10:30, right?"

Yosuke nodded. "Yeah, everyone was. Well, besides you and Ichijo, that is."

"Was anyone suspicious at all?" I asked.

"Not really. We were waiting around until 11 o'clock, but you guys never showed up. Shawn said that everyone needed to be here for the meeting and sent Smith, Mizuki, and Kazuki to the hotel to go get you guys," Yosuke replied.

I nodded. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary with that. Which was exactly the problem. Despite all of the investigation I was doing, I wasn't any closer to breaking the locked-room and finding the killer. I sighed, exhausted from investigating and from having so much going on all at once.

I was about to head back to the hotel when a familiar tone rang throughout the cafe. The monitor affixed to the wall behind the counter turned on, and displayed an overjoyed Monokuma sitting at his desk once again. "All right, you bastards! It's time for the long-awaited class trial to begin! Gather at the forum on the central island and then take the secret elevator down to the trial room!" Just as quickly as he had come, Monokuma disappeared from the monitor and silence returned to the cafe.

"The central forum, huh," Yosuke said, standing up from his chair. "Looks like we're seriously going through with this," he muttered to himself as he left the cafe. Hazuki left as well, still shaking slightly from anxiety and fear.

"We should get going too," Mizuki said, tugging at my sleeve. I took a deep breath and started off towards the forum on the central island.

As we approached, it was clear that most of the students had already gathered there before us. Everyone was exchanging suspicious glances and keeping their distance from everyone else. I was the one receiving the bulk of the attention, however. As the prime suspect, I couldn't expect anything else. Even Takada, who had seemingly disappeared during the investigation, had now reappeared and was giving me a devious grin. His words still echoed in my head, reassuring me that this was all still real.

"Well, it looks like everyone's here and ready to go!" Monokuma shouted, appearing from out of nowhere.

"Yeah, we're all here, so let's get this over with," Lars said.

Smith nodded. "It's fairly obvious who the culprit is anyway..."

Takada chuckled to himself, but didn't say anything in response.

"Where's this secret elevator you were talking about?" Ryouko asked.

"Now, now, I was just getting to that part! Ahem, would you all please stand clear for a moment..." Monokuma replied.

Suddenly, the ground started shifting and the stone platform in the middle of the forum started to rise out of the ground. It rose higher up until I could see that it wasn't actually a platform, but in fact the top of an elevator. The elevator doors opened slowly, inviting us inside.

"Please enter the elevator and head down to the trial room! I'll meet you bastards down there so we can get this class trial underway!" Monokuma shouted, before disappearing once again.

"We're really doing this?" Kurami said, fear clear in her voice.

"There's nothing else we can do," Shawn said, walking into the elevator.

"I-I'm scared..." Yuki said quietly, as she was being pulled along by Ryouko.

Everyone boarded the elevator quietly, one by one, until everyone had gotten on and the elevator doors shut behind us. Our fates now sealed, no one seemed to dare to break the silence. The only sounds that could be heard inside the elevator were the sounds of the fifteen students breathing sporadically. Mizuki was the only one brave enough to move to the side of the elevator and hit the flashing green button that started the elevator's movement downwards.

While the elevator ground its way down, deeper into the Earth, my anxiety and fear, which I had been trying my best to suppress, were rising towards the surface. Ichijo Yuzaki was dead. The reality had hit like a truck, but it was only just now really sinking in. It was now only fifteen students trapped on the island. But that wouldn't last for long. If we couldn't identify the culprit, then only one of us would make it out alive. If we did identify the murderer, then only fourteen of us would come out of the class trial alive.

I hadn't realized it, but my hands were shaking uncontrollably. I tried to grab my wrists and stop them, but they still trembled slightly. The image of Ichijo's dead body resurfaced again, filling my mind. Who had wanted Ichijo dead badly enough to kill him? He was a quiet and reserved person, but he was someone who believed in all of us. He wanted us to work together and not give up. Why was he dead?

Worst of all the thoughts was the thought of hopelessness I felt. Despite all of my investigations, I felt no closer to finding Ichijo's true killer. I was still the prime suspect, and I still had no way to break the perfect locked-room. I almost started to believe I was the killer myself. There just didn't seem to be any other way to look at it. Suddenly, the elevator came to a stop and the doors ground open once again.

On the other side was another set of doors, much larger than the elevator doors. They were imposing, and just approaching them took all of the determination I had. I took a deep breath. I wasn't going to just give in, no matter how hopeless things looked. I knew that I was innocent. I was going to prove my innocence and find the real culprit. The murderer who had killed our friend Ichijo Yuzaki. My composure returning to me, I pushed the doors open with both hands, light flooding in from the room on the other side. This was it. We had to find the killer and sacrifice them, or else it would be all over for us. I wasn't going to let that happen. 

Slowly, we all walked through the doors towards the trial that was ahead. The curtain had risen on the first class trial. A trial of truth and deception. A trial of life and death. A trial of hope and despair.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

**15 STUDENTS REMAIN**


	8. Chapter 1: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing - Part V - Class Trial I

On the other side of the doors was a huge circular room surrounded by seating areas, all of which were completely empty. In the center of the room sat the trial ground. Sixteen podiums were arranged in a circle in such a way that if you stood at any one of them, you could see everyone standing in all of the other podiums. The entire scene was crafted to illustrate one thing: there was nothing you could hide here. Whether there was a crowd watching us or not, we would all have to face each other throughout the trial.

Monokuma waved at us enthusiastically from his throne on the other side of the room. A bit farther away past the podiums, his throne looked over the entire trial grounds. "Alright! Let's get this class trial started! My heart's already pounding with excitement, so you better hurry and take your seats before I die of a heart attack!" he shouted.

"Maybe we should wait then," Lars remarked.

"We're really doing this?" Yosuke complained.

Shawn put his hand on Yosuke's shoulder and gave him a light shove. "We have to do this. Whether we want to or not. Unless, you want to die down here, that is."

Yosuke swallowed and nodded before heading off towards the podiums. Everyone else silently followed suit. Each podium already had a name engraved onto it, so it wasn't long before everyone found their podiums and faced each other. The entire situation grew extremely tense, fifteen glares being thrown around like bullets. No one could hide from the eyes of the others now.

"So, what do you guys think of the decorum?" Monokuma asked expectantly.

I hadn't paid much attention to the rest of the room, but there were white and black curtains hung up around the trial grounds. That would have only made me think Monokuma was just making the room match himself, if not for the large grand piano in the corner of the room. That was intentionally placed there with Ichijo in mind. We had never even had the chance to hear him play while he was alive. I shook my head in response, knowing that it was just a ploy by Monokuma to distract us from the trial.

I was standing at the podium between Eiko on my left and Hazuki on my right. Straight across from me was Takada, who was nonchalantly adjusting his hat with a grin on his face. But that's when I noticed the podium next to Takada.

"What in the world is that?" Lars asked, taking the words right out of my mouth.

What we were looking at was a stand with a picture mounted at the top of it. The subject of the picture was none other than a black and white head shot of Ichijo. But what was odd about it was that there was a large pink 'X' right over the entire picture.

Monokuma jumped up in his throne. "Friendship can overcome death, don'tcha think? It wouldn't really be fair if we didn't let Ichijo participate in the trial just because he's dead, right? But I thought that this would be a better alternative to just putting his body in his place."

"You sick bastard..." Ryouko said, balling up her fist in disgust.

"Anyways, if you guys are done, we can finally get the long-awaited class trial underway!" Monokuma shouted gleefully. "First, let's start with a refresher on the rules of the class trial!"

"The purpose of this class trial is to identify the culprit who murdered Ichijo Yuzaki, the Super High School Level Pianist. After discussing and debating the crime through the class trial, you will all cast your votes for who you think the killer is! If you make the right choice, I'll execute the criminal! If you choose wrong, however... I'll execute everyone else and let the killer off the island!" Monokuma explained. "So, let us see what choice you guys'll make! Will it be the right choice? Or the horribly wrong one!"

"Yeah, yeah, we already heard that speech. Where are we supposed to start, though?" Lars asked.

"We should first start with an explanation of what we know about the crime," Shawn said authoritatively.

"Well, we know that Ichijo was killed in his hotel room at 10:25 p.m., and that the cause of death was blood loss from the stab wound in his chest. We also know that he had bruises on both of his hands, most likely due to a struggle with the killer," Hanako explained.

"There's one more thing we know, Hanako," Smith said, glaring at me. "That room was locked before I busted through the door. Since Ichijo still had the key in his pocket, that would mean that nobody could have left the room and still gotten the key back to Ichijo."

"Which means that ultimately, the only possible culprit is the only living person found inside the room. Which was you, Keiichi," Shawn finished.

"Wait, I'm not-" I started.

"There's no one else it could be, you know that?" Lars argued.

"We should start by figuring out what the murder weapon was," Mizuki interrupted, catching everyone's attention.

"W-what? But it's obvious that he's-" Lars started.

"How can you know for sure that he's the culprit if you don't even know for sure what the weapon he used was? I think we should thoroughly discuss the case before we decide on a culprit," Mizuki responded.

Shawn sighed. "She's right. So let's discuss possible weapons that were used in the murder."

"I know! I know! What if the killer used one of the knives from the kitchen! Those would stab pretty well, right?" Hazuki proposed.

"No, there's no way it was a knife. The wound was more circular than a knife wound would be," Hanako replied.

"Then what about a bullet wound!? A bullet is circular enough to make a wound like that!" Ryouko argued.

"But there were no bullets anywhere on the island, remember? Plus, I don't think we'd be able to find a bullet big enough to make that kind of wound," Kurami responded.

"Maybe it was something inside of his room?" Smith asked.

"We didn't find anything of the sort anywhere in the room," Shawn said.

"Hmm... maybe that gold on Ichijo's palms could give us a clue..." Mizuki noted.

"Ugh, what the heck kind of weapon did the killer use anyway?" Lars complained.

"Mizuki's right, that gold on Ichijo's palms is the key," I said, catching everyone's attention. "The murder weapon was most likely the missing golden spear from the knight statue in the laundry room."

"Golden spear?" Hazuki asked, clearly confused.

I nodded. "In the laundry room on the first floor of Hotel Valetta, there are two golden knight statues, each with a golden spear. When I went to check the laundry room during the investigation, one of the spears was missing."

"So? How does that make it the weapon?" Ryouko asked.

"The shape of the spear matches the wound Ichijo received. Also, the gold on the handle of the spear came off pretty easily, which makes me think that the gold we found on Ichijo's palms was from the spear in the laundry room," I responded.

"Ah, I see. That would seem to be the most logical conclusion we can draw," Eiko said.

"So the murder weapon was the spear in the laundry room," Shawn concluded. "But that still doesn't change anything. Anyone could have taken the spear from the laundry room at any time, even Keiichi."

"Yeah! Keiichi's obviously still the killer!" Lars shouted.

"Actually, there's someone I'd like to ask about that," I said. "I don't think it would be fair to claim that the scene was a locked-room before consulting Eiko. Is there anything that suggests that there might have been a way around the perfect locked-room?"

Eiko looked at the ground in response to the eyes now glaring at her. "Well, like I had already theorized, the person who discovered that the door was locked could have been lying to create the illusion of a locked-room."

"What? Are you saying I lied about the door being locked!?" Smith shouted.

"Well, maybe you were! It's not like you got anyone to back up your claim!" Ryouko shouted, rushing to Eiko's defense.

"Actually, he does," I said. "Kazuki, you checked the door too, right?"

Kazuki nodded. "It was locked," he replied calmly.

"See? Don't go accusing people so quickly like that," Smith said, shooting a cold glare at Ryouko. She turned her head and crossed her arms in response.

"Well, then what about something blocking the door from the inside?" Eiko proposed.

I shook my head. "I didn't see anything blocking the door when I came to inside the room."

"Plus, I didn't see anything behind the door after I pushed it open," Smith noted.

Eiko fidgeted awkwardly, clearly running out of possible options. "Could someone have tampered with the door's lock, perhaps?"

"Nope! No way! Those locks are state-of-the-art! Not even the greatest locksmiths in the world could get that baby open without the key!" Monokuma shouted from his throne.

Eiko sighed. She seemed about ready to quit when her eyes lit up and she regained some of her energy. "What about if the key was planted?"

"Planted?" I asked.

Eiko nodded. "What if someone planted the key on Ichijo's body after the door was opened? That way, it would seem as if the key was locked inside, but in actuality, the killer simply brought it back into the room after the fact."

"That's not possible," Hanako responded. "Kazuki gave me specific instructions to make sure that I was the only person to touch Ichijo's body. No one could have planted the key on his body while I was watching it."

K pointed a finger at Hanako, which caught Yuki, who was standing next to her, by surprise, since she hadn't so much as moved since the trial began. "And we're to just ignorantly believe that you yourself are not this perpetrator?" she accused.

"W-What? What are you suggesting?" Hanako replied.

K pulled the lollipop out of her mouth. "It would be fairly convenient for the culprit if they were the sole supervisor of their victim's corpse, would it not?"

"But that's not possible either," I said. "Hanako and Yuki have alibis for the time of the murder. She can't be the culprit."

"T-That's right... we were in the cafe together the entire time..." Yuki noted.

K simply put the lollipop back into her mouth before receding into her podium again.

"See? I told you it can only be Keiichi!" Lars shouted.

"There's no way it could have been anyone else, realistically," Yosuke noted. "I mean, everyone was at the cafe at 10:30 except for Keiichi and Ichijo."

"T-That's right. E-Even K came over from the hotel at 10:30," Yuki added.

"We should've been done already! Let's just vote and get this over with," Smith shouted.

"W-Wait! You... you can't! I'm not the culprit! You'll all be killed!" I pleaded.

Lars didn't seem to believe me. "Yeah right! You're only saying that because you know you're guilty!"

Everyone started talking all at once, almost all of whom were throwing accusations and insults at me. Mizuki, however, was silently thinking to herself.

"Hmm... alright. Then explain how Keiichi committed the murder," Mizuki proposed.

"What?" I shouted in response.

Mizuki nodded at me. "If they can't establish a valid method that you could have used to commit the murder, then we can't say for sure that you're the killer," she replied.

"Alright, then leave this to me," Smith volunteered.

He cleared his throat before beginning. "First, Keiichi hid inside of Ichijo's room, spear in hand. Then, after waiting for Ichijo to lock the door and put his guard down, he attacked! But Ichijo managed to block the first strike with his hands, which is where he got the gold from. Unfortunately, Keiichi was able to wrestle the spear away from him and stab him in the chest, which was the fatal blow that caused Ichijo's death. Then, in order to push off suspicion, he pretended to have fallen unconscious and waited for us to discover the scene!"

"That sounds about right, actually," Ryouko agreed.

"Yeah, I don't really see any problems with that theory," Lars said.

"Well, I actually have a problem with that theory," Mizuki responded.

"What? What problem?" Smith shouted.

"Well, why did Keiichi pretend to be unconscious?" Mizuki asked.

Smith was thrown off guard for a moment. "Well, like I said. He wanted to seem less suspicious."

Mizuki shook her head. "But in the end, he ended up being the prime suspect, right? Don't you think locking yourself in a room with the dead body is only going to make you look more suspicious?"

Smith didn't seem to have a response. "Well, so what? We can't know for sure why Keiichi did that, but the fact still remains that he could have done that," Shawn argued.

Mizuki puffed out her cheeks in defiance, but didn't seem to have a rebuttal.

"Alright, so are we agreed on the method?" Shawn asked, looking around the room.

Everyone seemed to agree. "Then let's start the voting. Monokuma?" Smith requested.

"You guys ready to start the voting? I didn't think you'd reach an answer this quickly!" Monokuma responded. "Are you sure you've reached a decision?"

I didn't know what to say. I knew that I was innocent. I knew that if I didn't do anything, then we were all going to die and the killer was going to get away. _But what could I say?_ No one would believe my desperate pleas. No one would listen to my begging. Even Mizuki, who had been fighting on my side, had reached the end of her argument. I needed cold, hard evidence to prove my innocence. But what? The scene was a perfect locked-room. How in the world was I supposed to figure out how the real killer set that up?

"That won't be necessary," Kazuki said suddenly.

Fourteen pairs of eyes instantly glared towards him. "What is it now?" Smith shouted.

Kazuki didn't waver at all. He stood his ground and didn't make any motions of retreat. He returned all of our glares and spoke clearly. "There's one last thing we should hear first."

"What are you talking about?" Shawn asked. Everyone seemed to share the same question.

"I think we should hear it from Keiichi himself," Kazuki responded. "If he claims that he is innocent, then I think we should hear his account before we declare him guilty."

"What? But he'll obviously be lying!" Lars shouted.

Kazuki smirked. "Then we'll just have to prove that he is. After that, we'll know for sure that he's guilty."

_What's Kazuki up to?_ I wondered. He didn't seem like he was on my side, but if he was convinced that I was guilty, then why did he stop the vote?

Smith sighed. "Fine. Let's give him a chance. Won't do him much good anyway."

Kazuki looked straight at me, as did the rest of the students. "Tell us what happened after we all dispersed at the forum on the central island at 10 o'clock," Kazuki requested.

I took a deep breath. _This is it. I won't get another chance to prove my innocence. I have to make sure I make the most of this opportunity_ , I thought. "After you all left, Ichijo and I stayed behind at the forum. When I approached him, he said he wanted to talk to me about something. A 'dangerous secret' that he needed to tell me."

"Dangerous secret? What's that about?" Ryouko asked, but was quickly hushed by the others.

I waited a moment before continuing. "I headed off to Hotel Valetta, where K saw me come in through the lobby."

K silently nodded to confirm my story, and everyone returned their gazes onto me.

"I headed up to my room and made sure that my key worked on my door. Although, it looks like I forgot to lock it again afterwards. Anyway, right after that, I saw Ichijo going into his room, and I went inside along with him. He locked the door behind him and turned to face me. Just as he was about to tell me what the 'dangerous secret' was, I blacked out." I paused. "I assume I was knocked out by something, because when I came to, I was laying face down on the floor in front of Ichijo's dead body, with sharp pain and a bruise on the back of my head," I finished.

Everyone sat quietly for a few moments, considering everything that I had just told them. I could hear Hazuki's 'thinking noises' quite clearly next to me.

"That didn't tell us anything," Lars complained. "That story seems way too fishy to me."

"Well?" Shawn asked, glaring at Kazuki. "Are you satisfied now?"

Kazuki looked down at the floor for a moment. No one said anything while he thought. He looked up again, and he glared right at me, his eyes locking with mine. "I'll just say this right now. I've already figured out this entire case," he said, which seemed to catch everyone off guard.

"W-What? What do you mean?" Kurami asked.

"It means just that. I've figured out this case," Kazuki replied calmly. "Which means, of course, that I've also figured out who the _real_ culprit is in this case."

"What? You can't be saying..." Smith began.

"That's right. Keiichi is not the killer," Kazuki responded. "In fact, he's one of the only people who _can't_ be the killer."

"H-How? How can you be so sure?" Lars asked, now unsure of himself.

Kazuki sighed. "Think back on Smith's theory from before. Isn't there a glaring contradiction with the facts in there?"

Everyone thought back to the theory that Smith had proposed.

"Hmm... I don't see anything particularly wrong with it," Ryouko said.

"Ah!" Mizuki shouted suddenly. "The spear!"

"The... spear?" K asked, now clearly interested in the trial.

"That's right! We didn't find the spear anywhere inside the room! If Keiichi really did kill Ichijo like you said he did, then where is the spear he used to kill him?" Mizuki asked.

"T-That's... well that's obvious! He just hid it in his room!" Smith argued.

Eiko shook her head. "I'm sorry, but that is not possible. Kazuki and I searched his room thoroughly, and we found nothing of the sort."

"T-Then he must have taken it out of the hotel and stashed it somewhere else!" Lars shouted.

I shook my head. "That's not possible either. Remember that odd bloodstain at the crime scene? There's no way I could possibly make it out of the hotel, stash the spear, and make it back in time to lay down before the blood pooled out that far."

"W-Well, that's..." Shawn started.

"The same issue comes up when you consider the fact that Ichijo's clothes were missing as well," Kazuki noted.

"Maybe they were just in the washing machines?" Ryouko proposed.

Kurami interjected. "No way. I checked those washing machines during the investigation, and Ichijo's clothes weren't there."

"Then, might they be somewhere else inside the hotel?" Eiko asked.

"I-I looked all over the hotel... but I c-couldn't find them anywhere..." Yuki responded.

"Maybe someone brought them out of the hotel?" Yosuke asked.

"Nothing of the sort passed through the threshold of my vision," K argued.

"That's right. If anyone tried to bring the clothes through the lobby, K would have seen them," I noted.

"Hmm... but what does that mean, anyway?" Hazuki asked, having given up on trying to figure things out for herself.

"Think about it. If the spear and the clothes couldn't have been taken out of the hotel, and they weren't in Keiichi's room, where could they be?" Kazuki asked.

"It would have to be in one of the other hotel rooms, right?" Shawn replied.

Kazuki nodded. "Which ultimately means that the murder weapon was hidden in someone else's room. The only reason someone would have to hide the murder weapon would be if they were the culprit."

"So, that means that someone else besides Keiichi must be the culprit," Shawn finished. "But that doesn't solve our problem at all."

"What do you mean? What doesn't it solve?" I asked.

"If you aren't the killer, then how do you explain the perfect locked-room? Even if you consider the possibility that a third person is involved, then how did they get out of the room?" Shawn asked.

The entire room went silent again, everyone either thinking of any possibility at all or waiting for someone to propose a solution. Unsurprisingly, Kazuki was the one to speak first. "There's something else we need to discuss before we can break the locked-room," he said.

"Something else? Like what?" Ryouko asked.

"This 'secret' that Ichijo was trying to tell Keiichi," Kazuki responded. "That secret is at the center of this case."

That's when I realized. This 'secret' had sounded very familiar to me because I had heard Ichijo talking about it before. Yesterday, he was talking about it with Eiko in his hotel room. I happened to overhear some of their conversation, but I never actually heard what the secret was. But someone in the room did know what the secret was.

"Eiko, you know what secret Ichijo was keeping, don't you?" I asked.

Eiko gritted her teeth and looked away from me, desperate to keep from making eye contact with anyone.

"You mean, Eiko knows about Ichijo's 'dangerous secret'?" Smith asked.

"I overheard them talking about it yesterday in his hotel room," I added.

Eiko didn't respond. She seemed to be contemplating her response in her head, but she made no attempts to say anything at all.

"Come on Eiko, you have to tell us if you know what his secret is! This could be the difference between life and death for us!" Lars shouted.

"I can't. I can't tell you what his secret was. I'm sorry," Eiko finally responded, still refusing to make eye contact.

"What? What do you mean you can't!? Don't you understand-" Lars shouted.

"Stop," Kazuki interrupted. "We don't need her to tell us what it is."

"Hmph. So you've already figured it out as well, have you?" Takada asked. He had been silently listening to the trial the entire time, but had only just now made a contribution to the discussion.

Kazuki nodded. "You all can figure it out for yourselves as well. You're just not asking the right questions." He took a deep breath. "Let's start by revising Smith's theory. If we take into account that Keiichi is in all likelihood not the culprit, then that means that a third person was in the room at the time of the murder."

"And this third person is the culprit?" Kurami asked.

Kazuki nodded. "They were most likely hiding somewhere in the room where Keiichi and Ichijo wouldn't notice them."

"But when exactly did they manage to get into Ichijo's room anyway?" Lars asked.

"It must have been before Ichijo and I even got back to the hotel," I responded. "By that time, Ichijo's door would have still been unlocked."

"Hmm... that does seem to carry with it some magnitude of sense," K added.

"So the killer was hiding somewhere in the room with the spear before Ichijo and Keiichi even arrived," Smith concluded.

"According to Keiichi, he was knocked out by something, right?" Mizuki asked.

"That's right. Well, that's at least the most likely possibility," I replied.

"Then the killer probably knocked you out by using the handle of the spear," Hanako said.

"That's the most likely explanation, I think," Shawn agreed.

Takada smirked. "But then that begs the obvious question," he said.

"The obvious question?" Hazuki asked.

"Think about the state of the room while this is all going on," Takada began. "According to Keiichi, Ichijo had locked the door after they had both entered. The killer, Ichijo, and Keiichi were then all locked in the room, correct?"

I nodded, still unsure of where Takada was going with this.

Takada adjusted his hat before continuing. "Let me ask this: which way were you facing when you were talking with Ichijo?" he asked.

"I was facing towards the door, I think," I replied, recalling the memory.

Takada nodded. "That would mean that Ichijo was facing the opposite way, towards the inside of the room, correct?" he asked.

"Obviously," Shawn remarked. "Where are you going with this?"

Takada grinned. "Then answer me this: how did the killer manage to knock Keiichi unconscious without Ichijo noticing him?"

"What do you mean?" Mizuki responded, confused.

"Well, just put yourself in Ichijo's shoes. You're in your room, talking to Keiichi, telling him a secret about yourself," Takada began. "Then, out from his hiding place, the killer appears, spear in hand. He's about to knock Keiichi unconscious from behind. What's your first instinct?"

"Oh... that's right..." I said. "Why didn't Ichijo warn me about the killer coming up behind me?"

"He didn't?" Eiko asked.

I shook my head. "Ichijo never stopped his sentence, even right up to the point where I fell unconscious. He didn't even make any movements at all."

"Maybe he just didn't see the killer?" Yosuke proposed.

"Impossible," K refuted. "There is nowhere where the killer would have been able to conceal himself and still retain enough reach to attack Keiichi."

"She's right, you know," Takada agreed. "If the killer did knock Keiichi unconscious, then Ichijo surely would have said something to warn Keiichi before he did."

No one said anything in response. _Why had Ichijo stayed silent?_ I wondered. The problem with this line of thinking was that it _had_ to work. The only other alternative held that I was the culprit. So if this theory didn't work... I couldn't think like that. There _had_ to be a way for this theory to work.

"There is one way that it makes sense, actually," Takada finally continued.

"What? There is?" Lars asked.

Takada nodded. "If Ichijo knew about the killer being there beforehand and didn't want to warn Keiichi, then it all makes sense, doesn't it?"

"W-What are you saying?" Hanako shouted in response. "You're implying that-"

"That's right. I'm saying that Ichijo might have been an accomplice to the attack," Takada said calmly. "Keiichi might have been set up by Ichijo and the murderer."

"N-No way! There's no way that Ichijo-" Eiko argued.

"How can you be so sure?" Takada responded. "You only just met him. He might have done something you wouldn't have expected."

"But Ichijo was the one who was killed in the end, right?" Ryouko asked. "If he was helping the murderer, then why did they kill him?"

"That really doesn't matter, does it?" Takada replied. "Why the killer did something isn't the problem. All that matters is that the possibility still exists. I think that it's very possible that Ichijo set up Keiichi to be knocked out for some reason."

"No, I don't think that's the case," I said. "There's something that doesn't make sense if that was the case."

Takada raised an eyebrow at me, but didn't say anything in response. I decided to continue. "I need to ask you something Monokuma."

Monokuma looked up from where he was lazily drifting off to sleep. "Huh? W-What is it?" he hastily responded.

"If I'm understanding the rules right, that means that the person who commits a murder is the culprit, right? Meaning that only they are allowed to leave the island," I asked.

Monokuma thought for a moment. "Yup! That's exactly right! Only the bastard who delivers the epic final blow gets to leave if you guys get it wrong!"

"So then there's no reason to be an accomplice to a murder, right? Even if we get it wrong, then the accomplice will get killed along with us, right?"

"That's right! Any would-be accomplice would be in for a shock if they thought they'd be tagging along!" Monokuma replied.

"See? Why would Ichijo want to be an accomplice if he would have been killed anyway?" I stated.

"But what if Ichijo didn't know about that?" Mizuki asked. "It's entirely possible that he didn't know about that rule and attempted to be an accomplice anyway."

"That's true..." I admitted. "We really have no way of knowing for sure whether or not Ichijo knew about that or not at the time."

"Ugh, just get on with it! You guys are just going to run around in circles and die at this rate! Stop worrying so much about an accomplice because there is none!" Monokuma shouted angrily. "W-Whoops! I said too much, didn't I? Upupu!"

"I think that was fairly obvious, however," Shawn stated. "Ichijo didn't really seem like the kind of person who'd do something like that."

Eiko let out a breath and relaxed a bit, now reassured by Monokuma's words. 

"Okay, but now we're back to square one. If he wasn't an accomplice, then why didn't he warn Keiichi?" Kurami asked, scratching her head.

"We can assume that he trusted Keiichi, as he was about to tell him his 'dangerous secret'. So he had no reason to let the killer knock him unconscious," Hanako added.

"Look, you're just not thinking along the right lines here," Kazuki said. "Think of the situation like this: As we've just concluded, if Ichijo saw the killer attempting to knock Keiichi unconscious, then he would have done something to warn Keiichi, correct?"

Everyone nodded. Kazuki didn't wait for anyone to respond before continuing. "Since we know that Ichijo _didn't_ warn Keiichi about the killer coming up behind him, that can only lead us to one conclusion."

"He didn't see the killer coming up behind Keiichi?" Lars asked. "But we already thought about that. There's nowhere in the room where the killer could have hid from Ichijo's sight and still have been able to reach Keiichi!"

Everyone fell silent. Kazuki was patiently waiting for a response, unwilling to tell us what his thoughts were. Takada was smirking as well, almost taunting us to find an answer. Eiko was looking down at the ground again, almost as if she was pained by the fact that she couldn't tell us the answer. I stopped thinking about anything else and focused everything I had onto this problem. Ichijo _must_ have seen the killer trying to knock me out, but he didn't do anything to try to warn me. Which means that he _didn't_ see the killer. It made no sense. How could Ichijo have both seen and not seen the killer?

I stopped. My eyes went wide. "No way..." I whispered aloud.

"What is it, Keiichan? Did you think of something?" Hazuki asked, hopping up and down expectantly.

It had suddenly hit me all at once. I didn't think it was possible, but the facts started to pile up and connect in my brain. Ichijo spent nearly all of his time together with Eiko, most of it in the library. Yet, I never once saw him reading a book. The fact that he never wrote down any of his songs. The feeling I got every time I was with him that he was looking more past me than at me. This 'secret' that Ichijo had been keeping. It all fit together like a puzzle.

"Ichijo... it wasn't that he _didn't_ see the killer. It was that he _couldn't_ ," I said. "He couldn't see the killer because he was... **blind**?"

"W-Wha... w-what!?" Hazuki responded, not even sure what to make of my realization.

"Ichijo was... blind?" Mizuki asked in disbelief. "There's... there's no way..."

Kazuki sighed. "Well, why don't we ask someone who already knows for sure?"

Eiko sighed and squirmed uncomfortably for a few seconds. "That's... you're exactly right..."

"W-What? You're... you've gotta be joking, right?" Kurami responded.

"You're to have us believe that Ichijo has been concealing his lack of sight from us this entire time?" K asked.

Eiko nodded. "It wasn't his doing entirely. I encouraged him to conceal the fact that he was blind."

"What? Why?" Yosuke asked.

"I thought that it was a necessary precaution to ensure Ichijo's chances of survival," Eiko responded, a sad expression plastered on her face. "If someone who was planning to kill found out that someone was blind... they'd surely become an easy target." She sighed. "That's why I told him to keep it a secret and helped to make sure no one found out about it."

"The fact that he was keeping that secret from everyone must have been eating away at him," Kazuki noted. "That's why he felt that he should tell Keiichi about it."

"No way... so Ichijo was blind? That's why he didn't see the killer?" Hanako asked.

Kazuki nodded. "In fact, the killer used that fact to their advantage to commit this murder."

"Wait, what?" Ryouko replied. "You mean that the killer knew about Ichijo being blind?"

"That's the only thing that makes sense when you think about it," Shawn added. "Why else would the killer settle on such a risky plan. Ichijo would have clearly seen them and warned Keiichi, which would have ruined their entire plan."

"Hey wait a minute," Lars started. "Doesn't that make Eiko the most suspicious?"

Eiko's eyes shot up towards Lars and went wide. "W-what? What are you suggesting?"

"I mean, you knew about Ichijo being blind before any of us. We know now that the killer knew about it too," Lars argued. "I'd say that it's not too much of a coincidence."

"I would never! I was trying to protect Ichijo, don't you understand!?" Eiko uncharacteristically shouted back.

"Yeah, protected him so you could kill him yourself and escape," Smith remarked.

Eiko's mouth shot open, but no words came out. Her throat caught every argument she tried to make.

"No, Eiko's not the culprit," Kazuki said, breaking the silence.

"How can you be certain of that fact?" K asked.

Kazuki sighed. "We haven't even gotten to that part yet. Remember why I brought up Ichijo's secret in the first place?" he asked.

"We were trying to figure out how the killer could have escaped the locked-room," Shawn answered.

"But it's still hopeless, you know that?" Ryouko added. "The key was in Ichijo's pocket! How could the killer have left the room and gotten the key back into Ichijo's pocket all while still keeping the door locked!?"

"It's fairly simple, actually," Kazuki responded. "Once you think about the possibilities, there's only one method that makes any sense."

"Care to explain it to us then? What is this 'method' that the killer used to escape the locked-room?" Shawn asked.

"Why don't we ask Monokuma?" Takada interrupted. "I'm sure he'd be glad to give us our options."

"Hmm? You guys need something from me again?" Monokuma asked. "Jeez, kids these days just can't do anything by themselves anymore..."

"How many ways can you lock the doors to the hotel rooms?" Takada asked.

Monokuma scratched the back of his head. "That's an odd question, even by you guys' standards. Isn't the answer fairly obvious? You either lock it from the inside with the key, or you lock it from the outside with the key. Plain and simple."

"How is that supposed to help us?" Kurami responded. "We already knew that much."

"So, Shawn? Do you have your answer yet?" Takada asked, almost tauntingly.

"What? How was that supposed to give me an answer? Both of those options are impossible," Shawn replied.

"No, actually. Only one of them is impossible," Kazuki interrupted. "We know for a fact that the third person, the true killer, wasn't inside the room when we broke in."

"So they didn't lock the door from the inside?" Hazuki asked, trying to keep up.

"And Keiichi couldn't have done it, since he was unconscious..." Hanako added.

"It goes without saying that Ichijo couldn't have done it either," Kurami noted.

"B-but... they couldn't have locked it from the outside either... right?" Yuki asked.

Kazuki shook his head. "That's wrong. In fact, that's the _only_ possibility."

"What? Haven't you been listening? The culprit couldn't have left the room and still gotten the key back into Ichijo's pocket," Ryouko argued.

"That's exactly right. There's no way that the culprit could have put the key into Ichijo's pocket after locking the door again," Kazuki responded.

"Wait, but didn't you just say that the only way the killer could have done it is by locking the door from the outside?" Mizuki asked.

Everyone seemed to be completely lost. I stopped to think about the situation thus far. If the killer was locked in the room with Ichijo and me, then they only had two options: One, they could remain in the room with the door locked from the inside. Two, they could take the key from Ichijo's pocket, unlock the door, and then leave, locking the door from the outside. Both of those options were impossible, however. The killer wasn't still in the room when Ichijo's body was discovered, and the key was still in Ichijo's pocket. How did the killer manage to disappear from the room like that?

Kazuki sighed. "Answer me this: how can you leave the hotel room and have the door still locked?" he asked.

"You just lock the door from the outside with the key, right?" I answered. "There's no other possible options."

Kazuki nodded. "And that's exactly what the killer did in this case."

"Are you stupid or something!?" Lars shouted. "How did the killer get the key back into Ichijo's pocket then!?"

"What if they didn't need to?" Kazuki asked.

"W-What...?" Lars responded, unsure of what to make of what Kazuki just said.

I put everything else out of my mind in order to think clearly about this. The killer's only option was to leave the room and lock the door using the key from the outside. But that's impossible, because the key was in Ichijo's pocket when his body was discovered. 

Suddenly, Kazuki's words echoed in my head. _"What if they didn't need to?"_ They didn't need to return the key? _Then that would mean that..._

It all hit me at once, just like before. The keys, with their weird colors and game sprites on them. The hotel room nameplates, which seemed way out of place. The colored hotel room numbers, which seemed to be odd in and of themselves.

"That **wasn't his room**..." I said aloud. "That's the only possibility, right?"

"W-Wha... what...?" Hanako asked, trying to understand what I was saying.

"What do you mean that wasn't his room? It had his nameplate on it and everything!" Smith shouted.

"No, it wasn't! That room... the crime scene... it's not Ichijo's hotel room!" I shouted, now confident in my reasoning. I had completely forgotten about it until just now, but there was something that I missed while I was investigating. Yesterday, when I overheard Eiko and Ichijo talking about that 'secret', the room that they were in was Ichijo's room. Ichijo's room with a _green #6_. But when I went to talk to Ichijo about his secret today, the room we went into wasn't Ichijo's room, but the hotel room with a _blue #7_.

"The nameplates, they are just additions onto the normal hotel room doors, probably made by Monokuma," I explained. "Someone must have swapped their nameplate with Ichijo's in order to make us think that the crime took place in Ichijo's room!"

"W-what? That's..." Ryouko started.

"It's the only possibility that makes sense," Kazuki agreed. "If the room wasn't Ichijo's, then the killer didn't need to return Ichijo's key after he left. Because he didn't need it to lock the door."

"No way..." Mizuki responded. "So the killer used the key to the room to lock the door, and left Ichijo's key in his pocket?"

I nodded. "If the killer did that, it would create the illusion of the room key being locked inside the room, when in reality, they had the true key to the room on them the entire time."

"Hmm..." Hazuki hummed, making her 'thinking noises'. "But then, whose room was it?" she asked.

"It had to be the culprit's room," Kazuki responded. "Everyone went to Hotel Valetta to lock their room. If the culprit switched nameplates with someone else's room, they'd surely notice."

"But who? Who is the culprit?" Lars asked, looking around frantically at all of us.

"Hey Monokuma, mind if I ask you one more thing?" I asked.

Monokuma looked up from the newspaper he was reading and glared at me. "Ugh, whaddya want now? Can't you see I'm busy here?" he groaned.

"Last thing, I promise," I said. "Those hotel room keys, they're colored for a reason, right?"

Monokuma's eye lit up and he giggled a bit. "You have an eye for detail there, Keiichi! I didn't think anyone would notice! You're right! I was nice enough to match your hotel room key's color with the color of your hotel room number!" Monokuma shouted gleefully.

"So you mean, the killer is the person with the blue hotel room key?" Hanako asked.

"It's not me, my hotel room color is yellow!" Lars shouted, frantically digging through his pockets. "Hey, where's my key?"

Hazuki stuck her tongue out at him. "Don't you remember, dummy? I took everyone's keys and put them in the cafe! That way, no one could hide any evidence!" She glared back at Lars. "And no perverts could go snooping around."

"But that means..." Mizuki started. "That we don't know who has the blue room key."

"Damn it!" Smith shouted. "How are we supposed to figure out the culprit then? They could just lie about what color their key is!"

"This is truly a dire situation," K added.

"C-can't we go back to the cafe and get them...?" Yuki asked.

Monokuma let out an exaggerated sigh. "Ugh, this has gone on long enough already! Just decide on a killer already if you're so eager to get back to the island!"

"How're we supposed to decide on a killer without the damn room keys!?" Kurami shouted.

Takada smirked. "Looks like we'll have to take a shot in the dark, I guess."

"That won't be necessary," Kazuki interrupted. "We can figure out who the killer is without the room keys."

"What? We can?" Hanako asked.

Kazuki nodded. "Think about everything we know about the killer so far."

"We know that the killer is probably a guy," Mizuki said.

"How so?" Lars asked, slightly offended.

"Well, the color of the furniture inside the room was red, right? All of the girls' rooms are pink," Mizuki explained.

"Oh, right..." Lars replied, looking away awkwardly.

"We also know that the killer knew about Ichijo's blindness beforehand," Hanako added.

"The killer also used their own room as the crime scene," Kurami added.

"There's one more thing that we know. Something that leads straight to the killer," Kazuki said suddenly. "If the room that Ichijo entered was the culprit's room, then how did they lure Ichijo into that room?" he asked.

"Hmm... well if Ichijo was blind, then he wouldn't know the difference between his room and someone else's room, right?" Hazuki asked.

"Yeah, but why did he go into that room specifically?" Kazuki asked. "We know that most likely, Ichijo simply followed Eiko into his own room before then, but he was alone this time. He needed a way to know for sure which room was his."

"The room key..." Mizuki whispered.

"Ah, that's right!" I said. "Ichijo was probably just using the room key he had on every door in the hotel. Once he found the door that the key worked on, he knew that it was his room."

"But then doesn't that mean that the key Ichijo had was the key to the culprit's room?" Ryouko asked.

Kazuki nodded. "Of course, Ichijo would never know the difference, since he was blind. He was just trusting in the fact that the key that he had was the right key."

"So what, though? How does that lead us to the culprit?" Yosuke asked.

I blocked out the conversation that was occurring around me. I closed my eyes and focused all my energy into thinking. The culprit knew that Ichijo was blind, and they used that fact to their advantage in order to knock me out. The culprit had to be a guy because the crime scene, which was also their room, was a guy's room. And, last of all, the culprit had to be able to pull off one last trick. There was only one person I could think of who fit all of the criteria.

"Whatever, just tell us! Who is the culprit!?" Hazuki shouted, clearly desperate.

"The culprit..." I began, opening my eyes and glaring straight at the killer. The killer who killed Ichijo Yuzaki. "...is you, Shawn Richards!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

**15 STUDENTS REMAIN**


	9. Chapter 1: Wolf in Sheep's Clothing - Part VI - Class Trial II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the long delay.

"...what?" Shawn responded, completely caught off guard by my accusation.

I grinned. "It's you, Shawn. You're the culprit," I said accusingly.

Shawn shook his head in disbelief. "How am I the culprit?" he asked.

"You're the only person that fits all of the criteria," I responded. "You're a guy, you could have known that Ichijo was blind, and you were the one who distributed the room keys."

Shawn rose an eyebrow unconsciously. "Wait, just because I gave out the room keys, I'm automatically the culprit? What's so suspicious about that?" he asked.

Everyone else had gone silent at this point, preferring to listen quietly to my argument and understand my decision. I didn't waste any time getting to the heart of the matter.

"It's quite obvious, really. The reason Ichijo went into the culprit's room in the first place is because he was holding onto the key to that person's room," I explained. "The only person who could have manipulated which key Ichijo had was the person who had all of the keys to begin with."

"W-what? You're saying that I gave Ichijo my key in order to lure him into my room so that I could kill him?" Shawn asked, still in disbelief that he was under suspicion.

I nodded. "There's something else that's been bothering me since this morning, but I think I understand now," I said. "The reason you called that meeting at the cafe in the first place."

Shawn didn't respond, but seemed genuinely intrigued. I knew deep down that he was the culprit, but he wasn't showing any obvious outwards signs of it to anyone else. But what else would you expect from someone who works well under pressure like him?

"You called that meeting in order to try and create a situation where you wouldn't be under suspicion," I began. "If your plan worked, then you'd be with everyone else when they discovered a perfect locked-room murder."

"There's also something else," Kazuki interrupted. "Hazuki, can I ask you something?" he asked, looking over to the girl frantically trying to keep up next to me.

"W-what? What?" Hazuki responded hastily.

"Why did you collect everyone's room keys in the first place?" he asked.

Hazuki spent a few seconds making her 'thinking noises'. "Hmm... that was because Lars and I got into a fight, and Shawn said that would be the best thing to do, I think," she replied, looking up in the air to try and remember.

Kazuki nodded. "Just as I thought. Having the keys in our possession during the trial would be a problem for you," he said, glaring at Shawn.

Shawn gritted his teeth in frustration for only a moment, but it was long enough for me to catch a glimpse of it. It seemed that his armor was coming off, if just a little bit at a time.

"The clothes also make sense if you think about it," Mizuki chimed in. "If the culprit committed the murder in their own room, they wouldn't want us to know whose room it was by the clothes in the closet."

"Plus they probably needed a change of clothes to swap with the blood-covered ones they were wearing," Hanako added.

Shawn curled up a fist at his side for a few moments before releasing the tension. He exhaled and returned to his calm and collected persona. "That's it? I was expecting something more definitive," he responded. "Anyone else fits that criteria just as much as I do. Besides, what reason would I have to kill Ichijo anyway?"

I paused for a moment before removing the note I had folded up in my pocket. "This is why you killed him," I said, unfolding the paper as I spoke. "This is clearly a threat sent by someone telling the recipient to murder Ichijo by Nighttime. And I'm willing to bet that the one who recieved this note was you, Shawn!"

Shawn smirked. "And I'm willing to bet that I didn't receive it. Everything that you're using as proof is all circumstantial," he replied.

I sighed. Of course, I knew that too. Everything that we could have used as definitive evidence was taken out of the equation by Shawn himself. If Monokuma would just let us back to the island for a few minutes, we would be able to prove beyond a doubt that Shawn was the killer. But that wasn't going to happen. I needed to find a way to prove it without the definitive evidence. But what? How could I prove it without the most incriminating evidence?

"In fact," Shawn suddenly continued. "I'd say that it's just as likely that you are the killer."

"What? But didn't we already prove that Keiichi-" Ryouko started.

"All we proved was that Keiichi couldn't have hidden the spear in his own room," Shawn replied. "Who is to say that it was even his room to begin with?"

"What?" I responded. "My room was still unlocked, you guys checked it-"

"Sure we did. And your clothes were in there, weren't they?" Shawn said. "Maybe those were actually the clothes missing from the crime scene."

"No, Keiichi's room is the red hotel room-" Mizuki began.

"Is it? I recall someone saying that the nameplates can be swapped around quite easily," Shawn responded. "Without the keys, we can't all know for sure whether or not you're telling the truth."

I gritted my own teeth. I knew his argument was weak, and so did he. But without the keys, there was nothing I could do to break it. There had to be something; something I could use to definitively prove that Shawn was the killer. I decided to think along those lines. If Shawn really was the killer, then...

"Let's start the voting," I said.

Shawn was caught off-guard, just as planned. "W-what? What are you doing? We haven't even decided on a culprit yet!" he shouted.

I smirked. "We're deciding who the culprit is by majority vote anyway. We'll let them decide who they think is the guilty one."

Shawn looked around frantically. It was uncharacteristically desperate, but it wasn't particularly uncalled for. His argument was weak, and only based on assumptions. But my argument was a string of coincidences that was a bit more believable. But I wasn't planning on leaving it to a vote. I was simply waiting for Shawn to take the bait.

"You might claim that the evidence against you is just circumstantial, but all of those 'circumstances' are just a bit too coincidental, don't you think?" I asked, tauntingly.

Shawn closed his fist again, but this time had a devious grin of his own. "Alright, then let me give you some definitive proof," he said.

"W-what?" Hanako responded. "You have definitive proof?"

Shawn didn't respond to her, instead looking me straight in the eyes. "Keiichi did have a way to get the spear and the clothes out of the room," he said.

"What are you talking about?" Kurami asked, a bit confused.

"That was Ichijo's room, without a doubt. After he killed him, Keiichi didn't have much time to dispose of the evidence. He needed to lay down next to the body so that he could use it as evidence in the trial, of course," Shawn argued.

"But we already discussed this," Lars complained. "He couldn't have gone past K in the lobby, and he couldn't have hidden it in his room."

Shawn nodded. "That's exactly right. He couldn't do either of those things. But he didn't need to. He already had the perfect way to dispose of the evidence in a way that no one would possibly find out," he claimed.

"What? How?" Hazuki asked, impatiently squirming around in her podium.

"Keiichi's room is different from everyone else's hotel room," Shawn explained. "In his room, there is an escape hatch that leads out of the hotel entirely. Using that, he could have disposed of the evidence outside of the hotel, where we wouldn't find it, and still have time to get back into Ichijo's room and pretend to be unconscious."

"W-what? Keiichi, is that true?" Smith asked.

I grinned. "Gotcha," I said in response.

"W-what...?" Shawn answered, completely caught off-guard by my response. But of course he would be; he had unknowingly walked right into my trap.

"Kazuki, Eiko; can I ask you something?" I began. "You both searched my room thoroughly, right? Did you find anything like that?" I asked.

Eiko shook her head. "I don't recall coming across anything like that. Kazuki?"

Kazuki shook his head as well. "I didn't find any secret hatch either," he responded.

"Right, of course not. Did anyone else search my room?" I asked.

"No one. Eiko was in there the entire time, and no one else came in," Kazuki replied.

"Interesting..." I replied.

"What's interesting?" Hazuki asked, still lost. Shawn, on the other hand, seemed to be catching on to the trap closing in around him.

"It's just that there's something strange about that escape hatch Shawn was just talking about," I said. "Monokuma told me about it when I got back to the hotel at 10:20. I was the only one who knew about it at that time."

"Wait, then how did Shawn find out about it?" Mizuki asked.

I smirked. "Well, I did tell one other person, if I remember correctly," I replied. "I told Ichijo about it before I got knocked unconscious."

Shawn was already aware of the mistake he made, and he was gripping his podium aggressively with both hands. He was looking down at the floor, knowing that the noose was tightening around his neck.

"Actually, then I guess that means I'm forgetting about one other person who knows about it," I said, glaring at Shawn. "The killer who was hiding in the room must have heard about it too, now that I think about it."

"T-that means that..." Hanako started, looking over at Shawn. "Shawn is..."

"That's right. The only other person besides me that should have known about that secret hatch is the killer!" I shouted. "And that killer is you, Shawn Richards!"

"No..." Shawn whispered, still refusing to look up at us. "How... nghh!" He was groaning and trembling with frustration. But he showed no signs of refuting my argument or confessing.

"Shawn...?" Lars asked, unsure.

"Say something!" Ryouko shouted.

"It's no use," Kazuki said. "You won't get anywhere like that. Keiichi, just sum everything up for us so we can end this."

I nodded. There was only one way I was going to get through to Shawn and everyone else. I had to go through every aspect of this crime one at a time, until everyone understood; Understood how Shawn had taken one of our friends away from us; How Ichijo Yuzaki's life was ended. I closed my eyes and thought everything over in my head one last time. Once I was ready, I took a deep breath and began.

"First, the killer received a note with a horrifying threat. ' **Murder Ichijo Yuzaki by Nighttime tonight or else I will kill you both**.' After receiving something like that, he didn't know what to do. The next morning, at the meeting at the cafe, he was probably going to tell us about it. But then something unexpected happened. Monokuma appeared and told us that we were going to get our hotel room keys that night. With this new development, he decided to hold off on telling us about the note and started to formulate his plan.

"That night, he went to the forum along with everyone else to get the hotel room keys. He made sure that he was the one to hand them out to everyone, because he needed to give a certain someone a certain key. That someone was Ichijo. I don't know exactly how he found out, but he at least suspected that Ichijo was blind. Knowing this, he gave Ichijo his own key instead of Ichijo's. He took Ichijo's room key for himself and then moved forward with his plan.

"He told everyone else to meet in the cafe at 10:30, after we were all done locking our rooms at Hotel Valetta. This was done to ensure that everyone would be together at the cafe when the scene of the crime he was about to commit was discovered. After setting his alibi up, he headed off to the hotel ahead of his intended victim. Still at the forum, Ichijo tells me to come to his room to discuss his 'dangerous secret'. The fact that Ichijo was actually blind, and that he was keeping it a secret from everyone else.

"Once at the hotel, he grabbed one of the golden spears from the laundry room on the first floor. Heading upstairs, he swapped the nameplates from his own room and Ichijo's room before heading into his own room, now labeled with Ichijo's nameplate. Hiding inside with the spear at the ready, he waited for his victim to arrive. It is most likely that at this point that the killer probably dropped the note he had recieved that morning. After being told about the secret hatch from Monokuma, I headed off into Ichijo's room to hear about this 'secret'. Ichijo, having found his way to Shawn's room by using the key he was given, entered and locked the door from the inside.

"I happened to mention the existence of the secret hatch in my room to Ichijo, but the killer must have also heard it as well. The killer most likely wasn't expecting me to be there at all, but they realized that they had a grand opportunity. They waited for just the right moment, when my back was turned, and knocked me unconscious using the handle of the spear. They were probably planning on blaming the crime on me. However, Ichijo must have heard the attack and realized that the killer was in the room with him. He and the killer struggled, which is where Ichijo's bruises came from, with the gold from the spear coming off onto them.

"Then the killer delivered the fatal blow; a stab straight through the chest. Ichijo slumped over against the wall and died, his blood quickly flooding the floor beneath the killer's feet. Now having committed the murder, the killer started to set up the crime scene as a perfect locked-room. They took the clothes from the closet, both ensuring that we thought that the room was really Ichijo's room and getting a spare set of clothes to change into. They also took their room key from Ichijo, the key to the crime scene. Unlocking the door, they proceeded to head into the room next door, Ichijo's room. They most likely changed clothes and stashed the evidence in there and locked the door.

"Then they returned to the room and replaced Ichijo's key by putting it in his pocket. Then, all they had to do was lock the door from the outside to complete the locked-room. Heading off to the cafe past K in the hotel lobby, they simply waited until enough time passed that they could head off in search of Ichijo and me, who were still missing. After discovering the scene, the killer just merged with everyone else, seeming to be an innocent bystander and pushing the blame onto me.

"The culprit who did all of this... The killer who took Ichijo Yuzaki's life... was you, Shawn Richards!"

The trial room was silent. No one spoke after I had finished. Although I had gone through everything in detail, it was really only just sinking in. To be honest, I didn't blame anybody for not believing what I said right away. I myself didn't really want to believe it either. Did one of us really take the life of another in the hopes of sacrificing all of us to escape the island? It was hard to swallow, but the evidence was there. I had no choice but to believe, if I was going to survive.

"Hehe..." An exhausted and defeated chuckle came from Shawn's throat. His eyes were wide, and his pupils were dilated in such a way that he didn't even seem like the same person that I knew as Shawn Richards. It was like he didn't even believe it himself. "...just end this... please..." he quietly requested. His hair was slightly disheveled, as were his clothes. But he didn't seem to care anymore. The impenetrable defense that he had prepared had been destroyed, exposing his true form underneath.

"You got it! Please vote for who you think the culprit is using the machines in front of you!" Monokuma instructed.

Out from the podium in front of me came a small electronic device. On the screen were pictures and names for all sixteen of us. I was about to press the picture of Shawn when I looked back at Shawn, still not entirely rooted in reality. The picture of Shawn on the screen and the picture of Shawn I was looking at right now weren't even the same person. I shook my head and put my finger down on Shawn's picture, and then cast my vote. I glanced around to see everyone doing the same. Even Shawn seemed to have made his decision.

"Alrighty! Let's see if you bastards chose right or wrong!" Monokuma exclaimed.

Coming out from the ceiling was a large hanging monitor, which turned on as soon as it reached our level. On the screen was a rather comical display of a slot machine, which had all of our faces on the slots. The wheels spun over and over again before finally coming to rest on Shawn's face. The slot machine lit up and congratulatory music started playing, with coins pouring out from the slot machine. The screen then switched to Monokuma's face and then disappeared back towards the ceiling from where it came down.

"You're absolutely correct! The culprit who killed the Super High School Level Pianist Ichijo Yuzaki was none other than Shawn Richards! The Super High School Level Lawyer!" Monokuma proclaimed.

The room fell silent for a few moments, but it felt like an eternity. No one had moved from their podiums; their eyes too focused on Shawn to bother thinking about anything else. Shawn didn't move either, still staring blankly down at the floor.

"Why...?" Eiko quietly asked. She whispered it so quietly, it was almost as if she hadn't asked anything at all.

"How could you do something like that!?" Kurami shouted suddenly. "How could you just kill someone!?"

Shawn slowly brought himself to look up towards the rest of us. His eyes were empty, devoid of his previous composure and vitality. His gaze was not vengeful or sorrowful, but instead defeated, accepting his fate.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this..." he finally responded, looking at no one in particular.

"What are you talking about?" Mizuki asked. We had begun to move from the podiums now, centering around Shawn.

Shawn ran his hand through his disheveled hair. "You were right about most of it," he began. "I received that note under my door that morning. When I read it, I... I didn't know what to do.

"I knew that if I revealed the note, we'd just go back to being paranoid and afraid of each other again. Then somebody really would get killed for sure," Shawn continued. "So I kept it to myself. I contemplated talking about it during the morning meeting, but I changed my plans once Monokuma decided to give us the room keys.

"With the room keys back, I thought that we could get past this situation without any problems. There was a problem, however," Shawn said. "I had to tell Ichijo about the note. It was his life that was at risk, so if anything happened to him, I... I don't know what I would have done.

"So that night, I decided to try and settle things without incident. I called that meeting at the cafe for two reasons. The first reason was to secure everyone else's safety. If the person who sent the note was going to try something, I wanted everyone else to be away from Ichijo and I, safely with each other in the cafe. The second reason was so that I could lure the person out."

"Lure the person out? How?" Hanako asked.

Shawn closed his eyes. "If the person was going to make their move tonight, then they'd have to do it during that 30 minute window. If I sent everyone else to the cafe, then I would know for sure who the person was and I'd be able to stop them," he explained. "That's why I sent Ichijo to my room as well. I brought the golden spear with me just in case the person tried to take out Ichijo during that timeframe.

"I was just planning on telling Ichijo about the note, but then Keiichi came into the room with Ichijo. I thought for sure that you were the person who wrote the note; there to murder Ichijo before trying to murder me. That's why I stepped in and knocked you unconscious," Shawn stated.

"But then why did you kill Ichijo? I thought you were protecting him?" Smith asked.

Shawn sighed. "I... I panicked. Ichijo heard Keiichi hit the ground and suddenly started to grab for the spear. He got ahold of it and we fought over it. He wouldn't listen to me; probably because he thought I was going to kill him. After wrestling the spear away from him, I... I just panicked. He was coming back for the spear again, and my impulses telling me to kill him and escape just took over. I just needed to get out of here... I just needed to get back... I can't... stay here and leave them behind..." Shawn paused, tears forming in his eyes.

"The longer I stay here, the higher the chance that I'm not going to make it becomes. I knew that... and I just... stabbed him with the spear," Shawn concluded.

"Why the hell do you need to get out of here so badly?" Ryouko asked. "Badly enough that you were willing to kill Ichijo to do it!?"

"The reason I need to get out of here is because there's someone out there that needs me," Shawn said with a tears streaming down his face. "My fiance. But not just her. My own son is out there waiting for me to come back. That's why I have to get out. I can't just relax knowing that I'm away from her and my son.

"I don't get it," I said in response. "I don't get it at all. You hate your father for everything that he did, don't you? How does this make you any better?" I asked, hatred in my voice. I just couldn't understand why Shawn had felt so strongly a desire to escape that he was willing to sacrifice all of us to do it.

Shawn suddenly looked straight up and me and gave a defeated, almost sinister smirk. "Heh... you're right. But that's exactly why I had to do it."

"What...?" I replied, genuinely confused. I hadn't expected a response like that.

"Sure, I hated my father for what he did. Every day I had to deal with his terrible reputation and despicable actions," Shawn answered, fury contained in his pupils. "But the one thing that I hated the most about my father... more than anything else... was the fact that he was never there for me.

"I might have been able to forgive him for what he did if he was just there for me... There to tell me that everything was going to be all right, and that things would turn out okay," Shawn said, choking back tears and years of resentment. "That's why I can't stay here. How could I risk dying and leaving my son all alone? I would be just as horrible and despicable as my own father. How could I do that to my own son?"

No one said a word. What could we say in response to that? All of our anger and vengeful thoughts towards Shawn were conflicted with the feelings of sympathy and understanding that were rising up towards the surface. We weren't willing to forgive Shawn for what he'd done, but we couldn't bring ourselves to hate him for what he'd done.

"Well, now that the sob story is done and over with, we can get to the most exciting part of the trial!" Monokuma shouted. "The punishment!"

Shawn's eyes, which had previously been occupied by nothing but defeat and resentment, were now filled with fear. "W-what!? Wait... no! Please, wait!" he shouted desperately.

"I've prepared a very special punishment for the Super High School Level Lawyer, Shawn Richards!" Monokuma continued, ignoring Shawn's desperate pleas.

"Please! I can't... die here! What about my son!" Shawn cried out, tears streaming down his face. He had seemingly lost all self-control at this point.

"Let's give it everything we got!" Monokuma shouted in excitement, grabbing hold of his gavel. "IIIIIIIT'S PUNISHMENT TIIIIIIIIIIIIME!"

"NOOOOO! PLEASE, DON'T DO THIS!" Shawn desperately cried out, falling to his knees in desperation. Monokuma didn't seem to acknowledge his efforts, and simply took his gavel and pressed down on the almost comical large red button that had appeared out from the ground in front of his throne.

 

**_Shawn Richards has been found guilty. Time for the Punishment!_**

****

**Order in the Court**

 

Before any of them could react, the metal shackles were already too close to Shawn for anyone to do anything about it. The shackles secured themselves around his ankles and wrists and began violently dragging him across the smooth floor of the endless hallway on the other side of the trial room. In the same moment, the rest of the remaining students were ushered into a large room, which they instantly recognized as a real courtroom. Unlike the informal trial room they had just come from, this room was equipped with a bench for the Judge, the prosecutor, and the defense attorney. The class was filed into the seats prepared for the jury, and they watched on in terrified anticipation for the "punishment" they were about to witness.

Shawn was dragged out and shackled to the accused's stand, forced to look forward at the harsh and comical glare of Monokuma, dressed in full judge's attire and menacingly occupying the judge's chair. The prosecutor was another Monokuma, as was the defense attorney, and even still the gallery was filled to the brim with the crazed look of that monochrome maniac teddy bear. As he stood frozen with fear, Shawn was showered with insults, damming evidence, threats, and worst of all, the consistent chant of the entire courtroom, "Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!"

If Shawn had any emotions other than complete and total fear at that moment, he didn't show it. Without a response in his defense, Monokuma happily slammed the gavel down, its loud bang condemning the Super High School Level Lawyer to his demise. Without waiting for any last words he might have, Monokuma began his assault. At first it was a torrent of many small gavels, much like the one Monokuma had used to begin this demonstration of despair. They pounded against Shawn like wooden raindrops, leaving him bruised and beaten, blood coming out from his mouth and nose. Then Monokuma suddenly leaped from the judge's bench with a large gavel in hand. Without so much as a consideration given to the livelihood of the defeated man before him, Monokuma began to slam the gavel at full force into Shawn. Surely, before Monokuma had finished, most, if not all, of Shawn's ribs must have been broken, and I couldn't bear to look any longer, Against all odds, and perhaps to his own despair, Shawn lived and stayed conscious throughout the entire affair, screaming out in intense pain with tears streaming uncontrollably down his shaken figure.

But Monokuma was prepared to end him at a moment's notice. After one strong swing connected with Shawn's left leg, clearly breaking the bones contained within, a gavel ten times the size of the one Monokuma had been using appeared from the floor of the courtroom. Shawn's screaming ceased the moment he saw it rise out of the ground and contract backwards in preparation to crush him underneath. His fate unavoidable, the last images that flashed through his mind were probably filled with as much hope for his family as it was with the despair of his premature end. In one fell swoop, the gavel, many times the size of Shawn, crashed down on the poor soul and shook the entire room, filling our ears with the destruction of the hopes of an unfulfilled life.

The gavel didn't retract. It didn't need to, after all. It was clear to all of us, even those of us who couldn't bear to watch the entire thing, that Shawn was, without a doubt, dead. The man who had, despite his reservations, attempted to do what he thought would benefit us in the long run. As much as some of us had come to resent him, his leadership in the crucial first moments of our affair may have saved some of our lives. But it was this pride in his inherent desire to take responsibility that led him to his end.

"Wooooohooo! That was extreme!" Monokuma exclaimed with gusto, after shedding his judge's robe and returning the students to the trial room. "Didn't that just get your blood pumping with excitement!?"

Ryouko balled up a fist and exploded with rage at Monokuma. "What the hell...!? You... why...!? You can't do this!" she shouted with anger, her fist shaking uncontrollably with tension.

"Upupu! What are you talking about? I thought I already explained this! If you fail to get away with murdering one of your classmates, you get sacrificed so that everyone else can continue to live on the island!" Monokuma gleefully explained.

Ryouko was obviously unsatisfied, already aware of the rules of this sick game, but was so filled with hate and frustration that she couldn't even open her mouth in defiance.

I took a quick glance around at my fellow prisoners. Some of us couldn't even bring ourselves to look at anyone else. Some of us were seething with rage at Monokuma. Some of us were completely stoic and unresponsive. Some of us were wiping away the tears streaming down our faces. But we all felt the same thing, no matter how we decided to show it.

"You bastard..." I whispered softly, directing my fury at the guilty party.

"What? Don't think you can blame this on me, now," Monokuma argued. "It was you guys who decided to start killing each other."

"No, it was **you** who drove him to do it! **You're** the cause of all of this! They're both dead because of **you**!" I screamed in anger, my whole body behind my words. I was inclined to rush forward at the damned bear, but a hand on my shoulder held me back. It was Mizuki. She didn't say a word, but simply shook her tear-stained face disapprovingly at me.

As usual, she was absolutely right. All I'd accomplish by letting my anger run out of control was get myself killed, just like Ichijo and Shawn. I took a deep breath and let my anger subside, keeping it buried deep inside me. It would eventually be the fuel we'd need to take Monokuma down.

"I know I asked this of you once before, but I must ask again," Eiko began, her voice strained. "Why are you doing this?"

"Upupu! I said it once and I guess I have to say it again! I want you guys to despair. That's it! I don't care what happens as long as you guys feel true, ultimate despair," Monokuma responded. "In any case, I think it's about time we got back to the island, don'tcha think? Hurry up and head back through those doors and then we can continue on with this Island Life of Mutual Killing!" With his laughter echoing around the trial room behind him, Monokuma disappeared behind the long curtains covering the opening of the opposite hallway.

With no one to vent their anger and frustration at, no one made a sound. Silently, we all burned inside with our ovewhelming emotions, but we made no outward expressions of them. But one person didn't seem to share our feelings. "We should head back before Monokuma changes his mind and executes all of us anyway," Kazuki said coldly.

Kurami glared at Kazuki with a look that made it seem as though she was ready to make a decisive rebuttal, but she wavered and retreated into acceptance. Despite our opposition to just doing whatever Monokuma wanted us to do, we were compelled by our desire to survive to obey his orders for the moment. As if the spell had been broken, we all began to move at once towards the doors we had entered through.

I had been lagging behind and managed to find myself walking silently next to Kazuki, behind the rest of the group. I was suddenly reminded of his efforts in helping solve Ichijo's murder during the trial. "By the way Kazuki, I want to thank you," I said to him. "You're pretty amazing to have figured it out that quick, and I thank you for defending me."

Kazuki stopped short in his tracks, and I lingered forward for a few steps before turning back to face him. "What are you talking about?" he asked quietly. "You're the one who figured everything out."

"What? But you're-" I started.

"I should actually apologize to you," he responded. "I'm sorry that I had to make you a target, but I can't die just yet." He didn't wait for me to respond before starting off towards the doors once again. I attempted to reach out to him, but my hand stopped half-way to his arm.

Like they always did, his words rattled around in my brain, colliding and mashing together in strange formations, none of which made any sense to me. The puzzle pieces of his metaphor didn't seem to connect no matter how I thought about it. _What is Kazuki up to?_ I wondered. It was clear that something was going on, but I couldn't exactly tell what. _Why was I a target? Why did he apologize?_ These were the questions that had held me back from grabbing hold of his arm.

Everyone was impatiently waiting for me to board the elevator to take us back up to the forum on the central island. I hastily made my way into the small steel prison and pressed the button. I didn't make eye contact or conversation with anyone the entire time, and before I knew it, we were back on the surface again.

Without any motivation to stick together, everyone split up as we exited the elevator. The hints of morning light peeking over the horizon indicated that it was very early morning, probably still a few hours before the Monokuma morning announcement. Exhausted and mentally spent, I decided to head to my room in Hotel Valetta and try to get some sleep.

I passed by the rooms formerly occupied by the Super High School Level Lawyer and the Super High School Level Pianist, now in their correct positions. The room which had just a few hours ago held the lifeless body of Ichijo Yuzaki was now just as empty and immaculate as it had been when we first arrived. It was if all trace of them had been erased from the island, save the memories of the short few days we had attempted to peacefully coexist. I was going to cherish those memories; whether bad or good. I couldn't bring myself to let their hopes of life die with them, and disappear forever from this world filled with despair.

I couldn't fall asleep no matter how hard I tried. Whenever my mind drifted from reality, the terrifying images of the lifeless bodies of my friends flashed by, and the darkest reaches of my imagination conjured up terrible horrors that jolted me awake in fear. After what felt like several eternities, pure exhaustive necessity dragged my consciousness off to the dark and unpleasant void of sleep.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

**14 STUDENTS REMAIN**


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